


Moonlight

by Misty_K



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Acceptance, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Control Issues, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, Fear, Kira Case Delayed, Light is somewhat a tsundere, M/M, Manipulation, Mates, Minor Violence, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Researchers - Freeform, Secrets, Self-Acceptance, Transformation, Trust, vengeance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2018-11-14 21:18:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11216466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misty_K/pseuds/Misty_K
Summary: A curse had existed in the Yagami family for as long as time has known. But not everyone was affected by it, and not everyone knows about it save for Soichiro. When Light was brought into the world he worried, but it's been so long, surely the curse should have dissipated by now, right? Wrong.L x Werewolf Light





	1. Night 1

Ever since young Soichiro had heard things.

Things that he was not supposed to know going on with his family.

Especially the mystery of his grandfather.

His grandpa had always been kind to him and everyone around him, but they still kept him away like he was the plague, as if his existence had bode ill to everyone else.

Being the young child that he was, Soichiro had been curious and snuck over to his grandpa's one night, the moon shining full and bright in the sky.

He crept through his grandpa's open window, snooping around and quite surprised to find that the elder is in fact nowhere to be found.

That was when he saw the one room that he hadn't thought to check.

The basement.

Soichiro found the keys after fifteen minutes of searching, climbing down the old wooden steps.

What he saw he could never forget.

Deep in the basement, there was a dark cell lined with stone walls and thick bars, fitted with chains.

Caught in the chains is a monstrous beast, its large form black against the gray walls, golden eyes shining from the inky depths of the room.

It growled and snarled, fangs and claws glinting in the dark as it rushed against the bars with a loud bang, a thick clawed arm reached for him from behind the bars.

Soichiro cowered and ran out of the house in fear, later realizing with a sinking horror that the creature had his grandfather's wedding ring on its finger.

That was the secret of his bloodline, his father told him everything that he needed to know. Soichiro never visited his grandfather after that, up until the day he'd passed away.

Years later, Soichiro found that he was going to have a son.

The fear that enveloped him when his grandfather was alive had gripped him then, as males that had his ancestor's blood had a higher chance of getting affected by what his family deemed 'the curse'.

His baby boy was then brought into the world and Soichiro was even more fearful when he saw that the boy had golden hues in his eyes much like his grandfather had.

He was slightly relieved when Light's eyes lost some of its bright color when he grew older.

His fear grew as the boy neared his sixteenth birthday, unknowing of 'the curse' that might grip him once he hits that age.

Alas, his birthday passed without incident and Light remained as good and brilliant as always. Being the dutiful son and good brother that he always was.

By the time he was seventeen, Soichiro had already forgotten about the sinking fear that had always gripped him, that his one good son might someday turn into a monster like his grandfather.

Looks like the curse had skipped Light after all…

Little did he know, he was _dead wrong_ about that.

* * *

This was a night just like any other night, the two genii sat apart from each other in the dimmed workroom of the Task Force building.

It was well after midnight, the other sane people have already gone home, leaving just the two.

Light, the seventeen-year-old brunette sat in front of his computer screen, trying his best to mask his irritation at the other male, the pale-faced raven who crouched in his seat munching on cookie animals as he stared at his own screen impassively, toes wriggling as he savored the sweet taste of chocolate fillings.

Light's slender eyebrows began to knit together as the crunching sound got on his nerves, yet he had no means of escape from it, or the eccentric detective that is the bringer of his personal hell, the six-foot chain on their wrists keeping them together for as long as this investigation will take.

Try as he might, he could not get L, or as he liked others to call himself, Ryuuzaki, to be less annoying around him.

He _never_ listens to anyone.

The chain let out a crisp clinking and Light was once again reminded that he will be subjected to torture around the clock with L's god damn presence. It's already the third night that he was unable to get as much sleep as he used to and he's nearing the end of his wits.

He blamed his source of irritation, that recluse, to cause the headache that he is currently developing, feeling as though a hot rod was stabbing through his skull repeatedly as he glared at the bright monitor, sieving through the web for clues of Kira's identity.

The faster they got to that, the faster he'll rid himself of this Hell.

But then this night was _not_ like any other night.

If the brunette would forgot the annoyance that prickled at his nerves for a moment, he could perhaps feel it in his bones that no, it's going to be different.

Everything is changing tonight, himself included.

Light studied the line of text in some Kira worshipper website, where suddenly, the white characters blurred together,

He blinked, thinking past the sudden haze that wrapped lazily around his brain and the hammer that continued to pound mercilessly at his skull.

_What?_

A fire started in his chest and he felt as if his body was being constricted, trapped by some kind of invisible serpent that coiled around ever tighter, his breaths becoming ragged from the phantom pressure.

He winced and slumped forward suddenly, the world passing in a whirl at that movement.

Light caught himself before he could hit the desk.

He felt rather than see L's curious gaze turn onto him, the twin pools of blackness burning through his body, perceptible even with the heat already raging in him.

"What's the matter, Light-kun?"

"I don't know…" He breathed rather than said it, his head beginning to spin and his breaths increasingly audible in the darkened room.

A sharp spike jammed into his head and he groaned, his hand coming up to clutch at the site of pain, wincing.

L's stare seemed to intensify, weighting down with what Light would be generous enough to call concern.

"Is Light-kun not feeling well?"

Light turned to scowl at him, his brown eyes narrowed even more than usual with the pain.

"Did you just ask?"

L heard the incredulous tone and said, "No, Light-kun is not feeling well."

_'If not for this headache, Light-kun would've clobbered you already, you stupid idiot.'_

Another stab of pain prevented Light from voicing his thoughts and he groaned instead, slumping forward and resting his head on the hard surface.

"Light-kun?"

His brain functions must've been impaired by this headache, he'd thought he heard genuine concern in L's voice.

"Perhaps Light-kun should retire for the night," the detective said, hopping off the chair, "Light-kun does not look good."

Light mumbled something in response and managed to push himself to his feet, following after L in an uncharacteristic slouch.

That had led L to think that this might be more serious than it looks, as he muttered, "I'll have Watari provide some pain medication for you."

Light raised his head and managed a weak smile through the fog of pain, "Thanks."

* * *

Light did not think that the pain would be much worse by the time they reached the bedroom.

It felt as if the fire had begun to consume him from the inside, his head was spinning and his eyes had glazed over from the agony of it as his breathing became slightly more labored.

The only thing that Light could think of through the haze of pain was _sleep_.

He pushed past L the moment the door was opened and made a beeline for the bed, uncaring if the chain had pulled his arm back and the cuff chafing his wrist.

L finally moved forward and Light immediately crawled onto the bed, groaning as he buried himself under the covers and huddled into a ball resembling L's crouch, his breathing loud in his ears.

L watched all of this with a strange look on his face, he was nibbling on his thumb as he muttered, "Perhaps Light-kun should see the doctor tomorrow."

Light didn't reply as he shivered under the blanket, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Light-kun should take his medication now," L said as he reached for the blanket, "Watari is almost here."

He managed to coax Light into sitting up as Watari entered, the teen barely taking notice of what happened around him as the elderly man passed him the pills and the water as L felt his forehead and found it to be incredibly warm.

The teen was clearly out of it when he began to lean into the older male, hands clutching weakly into his white sweater as he struggled to stay upright.

L helped him back onto the bed and pulled the covers over his shivering form, the younger male groaning as he shifted and curled into himself, panting as a hand clutched at his pillow.

L could only stare in what resembled worry at the sudden sickness that took over his suspect.

_What is happening?_

An hour into the night, the pain seemed to get worse.

Light began twisting and turning, groaning and hissing in pain and heat spread like wildfire throughout his body, his forehead glistening with sweat.

He tossed the covers aside and curled even further into himself, knees drawn tight to his chest and his arms wrapped around himself, his eyes squeezed tight.

"Light-kun?"

 _"Hurts…"_ Light's soft voice ended in a whimper.

"Hold on, I'm calling Watari," L said worriedly as he reached for his phone.

A sharp cry startled the detective so much that he dropped the cell.

"Light?"

Light body was tense as he winced, then he began thrashing, clawing at the sheets as he cried out in agony.

L found himself genuinely terrified at the display as the teen continued to writhe uncontrollably, his mouth open as he wailed.

"Hold on, Light," L picked up his phone and found Watari already beginning to make his way here, having picked up and heard the scream.

Light's cries got even louder and he twisted into the middle of the bed, practically screaming.

The moonlight that filtered through the curtains illuminated the sheen of sweat on his face that became twisted with agony.

L was about to reach for him when a louder scream startled him against it.

Light flipped so that he was lying on his stomach, back arching up and hands clutching the sheets in a death grip.

The next thing that happened was nothing like the detective had ever seen before.

Dark hair erupted all over Light's face as he twisted, sickening cracks and pops could be heard as the sheets showed signs of being shredded.

His lean body seemed to grow larger under L's watch.

Light threw his head up and L could see a glint of fangs in his open mouth.

His face grew longer and brown fur grew all over it, before L could see other things happen.

His limbs grew longer and more slender as the stretching and popping sounds grew louder.

His black shirt was stretched and torn open, something long and hairy grew out of the base of his spine as he kept screaming.

Suddenly, the scream was cut short and the dark form collapsed back onto the bed, heaving.

L stared at it in muted silence, eyes wide with the fear of an unknown as the thing that is supposed to be Light wheeze and panted.

"L-Light-kun?" His monotonous voice was soft and hesitant.

Something that L in his frozen state of mind deduced to be ears pricked up at the sound of his voice, having been flatten in pain earlier.

The thing slowly raised its great head, turning to stare at L with bright golden eyes that shone in the darkened room.

It curled its lips back in a growl, showing large fangs that would undeniably tear him apart from limb to limb.

L found that the cuff had slipped off as the chain slid to the floor, the creature slowly getting to its feet.

It looked like a huge dog, standing over half his height and its fur a dark russet brown resembling Light's hair, its tail twitching behind it as it stared the detective down.

Even though it looked very much like a wolf, it also didn't look like one.

It had dark clawed hands instead of paws like a wolf should, its back slightly arched and the intelligence showing in its golden eyes shone through.

L slowly stepped back, "Nice doggy…"

It snarled and lunged, L just managed to get out of the way.

The wolf-creature slammed into the door instead, whipping around to snarl at L and pouncing.

The detective yelped and scrambled over the bed, tumbling to the other side as a sharp claw nicked his foot.

L's other foot shot out and slammed into its face, the wolf letting out a growl and stepping back.

It leapt onto the bed, the sheets clinging to its claws as it roared at the stricken detective.

The creature snarled and pounced onto a rapidly retreating L, opening its mouth full of needle sharp teeth.

Before it could take a bite out of him, a sharp pain on its back halted its movement.

It turned around and L followed its gaze, catching sight of Watari holding a tranquilizer gun, one that he carried around in his medical box.

He must've them when he heard the screaming.

However, the drug didn't seem to take effect quickly enough as the creature snarled, turning on the elderly man.

L swiftly grabbed hold of the other end of the chain, tugging it against its great neck as it lunged for Watari.

It thrashed wildly in its restraint, turning to snap in L's face as it snarled and growl as he held on for dear life.

Eventually, the struggling ceased and it dropped into a lump in his lap.

L shuddered as he let go of the chain and slumped into the wall that he was against, breathing hard.

"L?"

"Move it to the confinement room," L said shakily, "Hurry, before he wakes up."

Watari nodded and began to help him move the large creature out of the room, tying its legs together and taping its mouth shut.

It let out a rumble and L had to wonder what on earth had happened and why had it happened.

Unexpectedly, Light had just turned into a monstrous creature.

L had no idea what that has to do with the Kira Case, or whether it had anything to do with it.

He stared silently at the creature's sleeping face.

And he was going to get to the bottom of it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, that was werewolf Light, this shit is cliché but I hadn't seen much of it in the Death Note fandom, as far as I know (or I might just be extremely ignorant).
> 
> I've been meaning to try this out for a while and maybe try to do a vampire L in the future if I feel up to it. (But just werewolf Light x human L/vampire L x human Light, no werewolf and vampire together, that shit is even more cliché than cliché)
> 
> For the moment, I'm just gunna have fun with this muhahaha.


	2. Night 2

A clinking sound reached him through the layers of darkness.

He felt cold and dizzy, his arms and legs were strangely sore.

He shifted and a dull pain bit into his wrists and ankles.

Light groaned, slowly opening his eyes, becoming aware that he was no longer on the bed and rather lying on his side on the cold hard floor of a blurry room.

He blinked a few times and realized that he was shirtless, the cool air washing over his naked chest.

He shivered, his eyes slowly adjusting to the bright lighting of the room.

Light found his wrists bound by some sort of green rope that chafe his skin, his ankles also felt like they were tied together in the same way.

He saw was the all-too-familiar bar of the cell room were he was detained during confinement.

Confusion swept over him over why he woke up in here, tied up in this manner before seeing a figure beyond the cell bars, someone who could be the answer to his questions.

L was crouching on a chair, his dark eyes watching Light indifferently in the darkened room. He placed his ice-cream spoon back into the sundae glass, producing the clinking sound that he heard in the beginning.

"I see Light-kun has awakened," he said and Light could detect an undertone of something else in his voice.

L sounded snappish – that's a first.

"What-"

Light's train of thought was interrupted when he caught sight of L's feet.

"Is that…" He squinted, his voice was soft from thirst, "Is that a _panda band aid_?"

L wriggled his toes, suddenly self-conscious of the yellow band aid full of panda faces on his foot, "Yes."

Light blinked at him, then decided that it was best that he didn't ask.

He was about to open his mouth when L interrupted him, "Would Light-kun like to explain himself?"

"What?"

"You attacked me," L said blankly.

"What are you talking about?" Light demanded, struggling to push himself up into a sitting position at least.

He awkwardly leaned against the cot, suddenly short of breath as his head began to spin.

L seemed to notice that Light had turned pale suddenly.

"Is Light-kun feeling alright?"

Light replied by abruptly curling into a ball against the cot, clamping both his hands over his mouth and then scrambling for the single toilet in the room.

He hunched over it and retched, producing nothing but gagging noises into the toilet bowl.

"Shit…" Light groaned as he leaned against the wall, coughing.

L remained seated in his chair, nibbling on his thumb as he watched his suspect crawl back to lean against the cot.

One part of him was concerned enough to want to remedy the teen's discomfort, while the other was worried that it may be a trick, or that Light was going to turn into a wolf-monster thing that he did last night and put him in danger.

He was lucky that he wasn't torn to shreds last night, save for a cut on the side of his foot.

"Ryuuzaki…"

L was startled out of his thoughts as Light asked wearily, "You said I attacked you last night… What happened?"

"Light-kun turned into a monster," he said seriously.

Light stared at him, "What?"

"Light-kun turned into a monster and attacked me," L repeated.

The teen scowled, his nausea forgotten for the moment, "This isn't the time to be joking around, Ryuuzaki."

"I am not joking, I have prove."

As he said that, L hopped off his chair and walked over to the tables on the far wall.

He picked up a laptop and made his way to the front of the cell, "I have footage of the bedroom from last night after we went in."

Light felt cheated, "You didn't tell me there were cameras in the bedroom."

"Light-kun is a suspect, there is no need for me to inform Light-kun of such things," L deadpanned, "However, only I and Watari have access to those footages and this is what I will show you now."

L placed to laptop to face Light, who had shifted over from the cot for a closer look.

Light watched the video, his eyes widening as the minutes passed.

While that was happening, L watched him closely for his reaction, his black eyes wide and forbidding.

When the footage ended, Light seemed to be at a loss for words, his eyes still staring at the blank screen.

"Wha-" He whipped his head to gawk at the detective, " _That's me?_ "

"That would appear to be so."

"Like hell it is," Light laughed shakily before glaring at L, "Is this your idea of a prank?"

"I assure you that I am doing nothing of that sort."

"Are you sure?" Light challenged him, "Because this-"

He gestured at the laptop with his bound hands, "-is not possible, you didn't create this with some hi-tech CGI software or something?"

L sighed heavily, "For the last time Light-kun, I am not trying to pull a trick on you. This is all real."

Light appeared to scrutinize L for any signs of deceit.

He'll be damned if he just took his word for it and have L declare "oh my dude you just got prank'd!"

L sighed, "Do I look like I would play a practical joke?"

"I don't know, do you?" Light huffed, "Last I checked you were the one who dumped all that sugar in my coffee."

"The way you take it is horrendously bitter," L said, "I was merely improving the quality of the drink."

" _Numerous times_ , Ryuuzaki," Light growled, "Don't tell me you don't get a kick out of tormenting me like that."

"That was torment?" L gasped incredulously.

The teen had to pause to rein in the sudden urge to crack a smile at the detective's expression, shaking his head, "The amount of sugar you take is not normal, Ryuuzaki."

"As I've been told," L said seriously.

Light still didn't believe L about him turning into a monster, the last thing he'd remembered was going to bed with a splitting headache and that's it.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Light asked, "About me being locked up in this room, I mean."

"Only me and Watari," L said, "The rest of the Task Force was informed that Light-kun is ill and incapable of joining them. I'm staying here since I'm supposed to be watching you and all."

"I see," Light muttered, shifting his sore arms within its bounds, "How long are you going to keep me here?"

"Until we can figure out something about Light-kun's… condition."

L studied the teen in silence as he scoffed and shifted back to lean against the bed.

"Light-kun does not believe me."

"Who the hell would believe something as ridiculous as that," Light said, though he was beginning to doubt that this was a prank, as childish and unpredictable as L is, he wouldn't fabricate something as nonsensical as this. An elaborate prank of this scale maybe, but not with a story as far-fetched as this.

"That is rather unfortunate, then," L said, "As I will be keeping Light-kun down here until I get some answers."

Light rolled his eyes, shivering when a cool draft blew over his form realizing again that he was wearing nothing but a tattered pair of trousers, the one that he was wearing yesterday.

L wouldn't mess with his clothes, especially not his pants to pull off a stunt, right?

Then again, there was very little that the detective would mess with to get what he wants, though the tear marks on his trousers looked fairly disturbing as he thought back to what he saw on the footage.

Light strived not to shiver from the sudden chill that he felt, he didn't want to think that he'd turned into something and forgotten about it.

Losing control was a concept too terrifying to even think about for the young genius.

"While you're getting answers, can I have a change of clothes at least?" Light fought to keep the quiver out of his voice, "It wouldn't do for you to leer at me while I'm missing clothing."

L grabbed the phone beside him and speed dialed Watari, pouting, "Why does everyone have the impression that I'm a pervert?"

* * *

L stayed by the cell the entire day, half-heartedly watching Light for any signs of abnormality as he worked alongside the Task Force on his laptop, communicating with them via voice call on another laptop that Watari left upstairs.

He'd provided one for Light so he could work as well, since there was no sense for the teen to have no access to information like the last time he was kept down here.

He wasn't monitored for being Kira this time, but something else entirely.

The day went by uneventfully and L had burnt through his sugar supply from the unanswered questions about Light's supposed condition.

He kept watch even when Light put away his laptop and went to bed.

The teen was going to make full use of the opportunity of sleeping while being moderately free from L's insomniac tendencies.

The weeks spent chained to him was absolutely dreadful.

L stayed up and watched as Light gradually fell asleep, the blanket covering his face to keep the lights out.

It wasn't until half past twelve when the younger male begin to stir under the covers.

L tore his eyes away from the medical articles that he'd been reading to see the Light's form writhing.

He slowly closed his laptop while gasps and whimpers spilled out from the cell, Light's struggling causing the blanket to slide off his body.

The teen was awake now, his eyes narrowed in pain as he clutched the side of the cot, sweat rolling down his forehead.

_"Ryuu…zaki…"_ He panted, screwing his eyes shut, _"What…"_

"How is Light-kun feeling?" He asked, wanting to find out what exactly is affecting his suspect.

_"It hurts…"_ Light whined, his voice barely audible, _"Burns…"_

L watched, enraptured as Light twisted and cried out, his knuckles pale from clutching at the metal frame.

As he'd witnessed yesterday, the cracking sounds began.

Light's eye cracked open, seeing brown hair suddenly sprouting all over his arm.

_What is happening?_

The pain was too much and a sharp scream tore out his throat.

The bedframe began to creak under his hand and he watched in horror as his skin darkened and bones shifted under it, his hand curling up to form claws.

Light screamed, his voice echoing about the room.

He caught sight of L sitting in his chair, eyes wide as he stared at him, seemingly frozen with his thumb to his mouth.

He threw out an arm, reaching for the detective as he kept screaming, his body convulsing as pain overrode every other senses in his nerves.

The last thing he saw was the paralyzed detective in the darkened room.

_Help…_

Fire coursed through his veins as Light blacked out, slumping into the bed.

* * *

L remained still as the transformation was completed, the creature lying immobile in the bed, panting heavily.

It opened its eyes, the twin orbs gleamed yellow as it glared at him behind the bars.

L flinched, his toes twitching when it suddenly sprang from the cot, slamming into the bars, growling and snarling as it tried to reach for him with its clawed hands.

"Are you seeing this, Watari?"

"Yes," his aged voice spilled from the laptop, "That is quite disturbing."

"Light-kun does not seem to be aware of the transformation last night," L said, "That much I gathered seeing his reactions this morning and just now."

Light looked absolutely terrified.

The beast had ceased its actions at the bars and is now prowling about the room, growling as it looked for a way out.

"Have you seen anything like this before?"

L watched as it sniffed at the ropes that were discarded by the bed, lips curling back as it snarled.

The creature turned to stare at him, fangs bared, its golden eyes seemed to convey that it knew what L had done to it.

"Never," Watari said, "But I have heard of people who study these phenomena."

The creature studied the bars and experimentally bit into, its fangs clacking against the metal.

L was hit with the uncomfortable notion that it might somehow find its way out and attack him.

He glanced at the tranquilizer gun on the table to make sure that it's still there, just in case.

"Please contact them," L said, "I would like to find out more about this."

"Right away."

"Let's just hope that they know what they are doing," L muttered, nibbling his thumb as the beast crouch upon the floor, where Light usually sat, staring straight at him.

He reached for the side table as a reflex, picking up a piece of gummy and popping it in his mouth.

The creature regarded his actions with grim interest, fangs glinting in the light.

_It looks like it wants to eat me._

L grabbed a handful of gummies and stuffed them in his mouth, quelling the anxiety that is beginning to take hold of him.

_It probably does._

They stared at each other throughout the night and L dared not take his eyes off of it in fear that it might go berserk.

The beast gradually began to nod off, before lying down to curl up against the cot, watching L with obvious distrust as its eyes drooped.

When it finally dozed off, L grabbed his laptop and began searching articles about lycanthropy, the situation looking more and more to him like Light was afflicted with some kind of curse, ridiculous as it sounds.

It was dawn when the beast reverted back into Light's unconscious form, his sleeping face peaceful like nothing happened.

L picked up his last gummy bear and sighed.

Looks like Watari have to order another month's worth of candy.

He turned to stare at Light who shifted and mumbled something intelligible, shivering against the cold floor.

Maybe it's better if he went without clothing, if he were going to destroy them every time that he changes.

Then again, it may be deemed to be problematic for the detective.

…

(If you know what I mean)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's fun fact time!
> 
> Fun fact: The story's title
> 
> Yep, I have thought of the title like any other normal story writers. Since this is about Light being a werewolf and all, I thought about something 'Moon', like 'Curse of the Moon' or some stupid shit like this.
> 
> But of course none of them sound right and I'm still indecisive when I have already done the first chapter. So I was like, 'fuck it!' and then it was like BAM, something stupid! (Moonlight)
> 
> If one looks closely, even half-heartedly, you can see that it's a double play of Light's name, 'cuz once is not enough~
> 
> Yes, I am an idiot like that.
> 
> Bleh :P


	3. Night 3

The morning found Light in his usual spot, having washed up and changed his clothes.

L was on the other side of the bars, subtly watching him as he continued his half-hearted work on the Kira Case, eating some pink frosted cupcakes for breakfast.

Light's own breakfast of eggs and toast are sitting on the floor, the teen having made no effort to consume them after waking up and hit with a thick sense of apprehension and nausea.

Light had been sitting silently by the cot for an hour now, eyes blankly staring into space as what seemed to be anxiety passed his features occasionally.

L had a couple of websites and some articles that had to do with the condition of lycanthropy. Most of it mentioned about the medical condition that one believes that they are an animal, which is definitely not true in Light's case.

He sighed, finding it to be as tedious as the case that he is currently working on.

"Light-kun?"

The brunette didn't respond, his eyes remaining fixed to a single spot on the floor.

"Light-kun?" L said a little louder and he twitched.

Light raised his head to look at him, his eyes darkened with some form of emotion that L couldn't easily discern.

_He almost looked terrified…_

It was clear that Light didn't have any recollection of the first night but he seemed to be reacting to some form of memory from last night. It can't be said how much he remembered and Light-kun didn't look like he's in any mood to answer questions.

"Is Light-kun alright?"

"I'm fine," he muttered, averting his gaze.

L didn't respond, only staring at him wordlessly.

"Li-"

"Fine," he shifted to curl in further to himself, his voice barely a whisper, "I'm freaking out."

L was quiet for a moment, before asking, "Would Light-kun like some of my cupcakes?"

Light levelled him with a mildly disgusted stare, "No."

"But it should help Light-kun calm down."

Light glared at him, his shoulders tense, " _No_ , it won't help me to calm down."

"Sugar always helps me to calm down," he pouted.

Light ignored him for the sake of staring at the floor, before thinking back to their conversation.

_Wait, does that mean L was trying to make me feel better?_

He glanced at the detective, who had taken to licking at the frosting forlornly.

_Ugh, he's gross._

_Just as always._

Light calmed slightly at the display of normalcy and decided that he was hungry.

L watched discreetly as Light finally reached for his plate and ate his breakfast.

"Does Light-kun want a cupcake?" He offered, while he's still in the middle of his meal, "I can spare one."

"No, thanks," he huffed, "You really are annoying."

"When I'm trying to be nice?" L asked, pretending to be hurt, "Light-kun is mean."

Light rolled his eyes, "Light-kun has always been mean to you."

_If he's not, then he'll no longer be himself._

He suddenly lost his appetite, staring miserably at the half-eaten piece of toast and egg.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Light-kun," L said after a while.

"Shut up," he grumbled, leaving the plate on the floor.

Light curled up in his usual spot, looking worried, "You don't know what you're talking about."

L remained silent, going back to work on the Kira Case while Light reached for his laptop, casting a glance at his hand.

He'd remembered seeing his arm changing, skin turning dark and the hot sensation of fur sprouting all over it, all over his body.

Then all was black and blank after that.

Light jumped when the door was opened and Watari entered the room.

The old man looked like he always did, if not slightly uneasy.

"It's alright Watari," L said, his eyes fixed on the screen, "Light-kun will not turn during the day so it is safe to enter the cell."

"How can you be so sure?" Light demanded, grabbing the plate and sliding it through the open slot in the door, "Here you go, Watari."

Watari looked surprised and relieved at the same time, before his expression morphed to look apologetic.

"Would you like anything, Yagami-kun?"

"No, thank you," Light smiled politely.

L watched him leave out of the corner of his eyes, his thumb sticking into his mouth.

The Task Force called the next moment, discussing about the marginal progress in the case and what they've found. At some point, Soichiro asked about the well-being of his son and the others expressed concerns.

The teen listened to the conversation nervously, his eyes staring at the screen but his hands were not moving.

"Light-kun is still too ill to join the investigation," L muttered, reaching for his seventh cupcake and generating loud munching sounds for the others to hear, "But his condition is improving and he should be able to rejoin the investigation soon."

"Can I see my son?" Soichiro asked and L could see Light fidgeting slightly in his peripheral vision.

"That is currently unadvisable," L said, stuffing the rest of the cupcake in his mouth and making it difficult to make out his words, "I'll see what I can do, I will contact you when I do."

He cut the connection and swallowed, licking a few stray crumbs off his hand.

"What are we going to do?" Light asked quietly, clearly worried.

L placed his hands onto his knees and uttered, "Well, we certainly cannot use the same excuse forever."

"We'll have to tell them eventually."

Light frowned, "That is what I'm afraid of."

L reached for another cupcake, holding it up by his finger and thumb and stared at it.

"I have contacted some researchers who claimed they have knowledge in this field, as unlikely as it is," L added solemnly, "They shall arrive in another day or two."

"Who?"

L bit into the frosting, licking it off his lips and answered, "Their leading researcher goes by the name of Dr. Mikhailov, and they mentioned that do have actual werewolves that they are currently studying."

Light didn't like the sound of that, especially 'studying'. It made it sound like he's some test subject.

"Of course I have am in the position to fire them if I do not like what they're doing, so worry not."

Light huffed, not liking the idea of L making decisions for him, "That's what I'm worried about."

Although that did make him feel a little better, L is more trustable than some stranger he didn't know after all.

Just slightly.

"In the meantime, I wish to take some DNA samples from you, Light-kun," L said, putting down his cupcake, "If you don't mind."

"What kind of samples?" Light asked suspiciously.

"Hair, saliva and blood," L said, "Since there were a series of changes to your body, I would like to observe them at the molecular level, as well as any changes to your hormone levels, as well as-"

"Okay I get it," Light muttered, there are a lot of things one could get from DNA testing and he wasn't keen on hearing all of it.

"I would need samples both before and after the change," L mentioned, gesturing at the tranquilizer gun, "So I would be putting Light-kun to sleep tonight if you don't mind."

"I don't think I would even be conscious to mind, Ryuzaki."

"Well, your transformed self would," L said, nibbling on his thumb, "I have a feeling that he doesn't like me very much."

"Strange," the teen said sarcastically.

"In any case, I would like to take the samples now," L said.

"Aren't you afraid I am going to change in the middle of it?" Light asked, looking anxious suddenly.

"I'll have Watari stand outside with the tranquilizer prepared," L said, "Since he isn't very keen in joining Light-kun inside the cell, I will be the one to take them."

"Besides, from what I observed, Light-kun only changes during the night," L added.

"You can't be certain…"

"Then I'm willing to take the risk," L said, smiling, "It has always been a gamble to me after all."

Light stared at him, "Is that what you get off on?"

"Whatever is Light-kun talking about?" L said 'innocently'.

Light rolled his eyes.

* * *

It was over quite quickly, after Light's initial protest over L cutting off a lock of his hair.

"It'll grow back," L said.

"But it won't look the same!" Light complained, staying as far away from the pair of scissors.

"Light-kun won't be going out these days so it won't matter."

"It matters to _me_!"

"Male hair grows fairly quickly so I can't see what there is to worry about."

"The way you hold the scissors worries me!"

"I'll get an accomplished hairdresser to fix Light-kun's hair once this is done, okay?" L persuaded.

Light stared at him in doubt.

"I'll pay for it."

"Really?"

L tried not to look irritated, "Yes, really."

Light begrudgingly let him cut his hair afterwards, which L couldn't see what the fuss was about because his hairstyle _literally_ looked the same after that.

It was pretty easy to get the rest of the samples and L left the cell, locked the door behind him and handed them to Watari to start the testing.

Then, they waited for the night to come for L to take the second set of samples.

* * *

Watari joined him again that night, just in case anything goes wrong.

He and L stared at the prowling beast within the cell, growling as it glared at them both.

The elderly man shot the werewolf with the gun.

Both of them managed to not back away as it howled in rage and slammed itself into the bars, snarling at them.

It wasn't long until it began to sway on its feet, its golden eyes still trained on them both, though its gaze wasn't as intense as before.

Watari loaded the dart gun more sedatives, lest it wakes up in the middle of the collection and turned on L.

L went over the motions like before, stepping about the massive fallen body carefully, cutting off and bagging a lock of its fur, swabbing its cheek and prepared a syringe.

He jumped when the beast stirred, one of its eyes open blearily.

It caught sight of the needle in L's hand and growled.

Watari raised his gun.

L held up a hand and stopped him.

It was awake but it didn't look like it could gather enough strength to attack him. And L didn't want to risk Light's health by introducing him to more sedatives in his bloodstream.

"It's okay…" L said softly and as soothing as he could, even though his heart is hammering in his chest, going about a million miles per hour, "I'm not going to hurt you."

He crouched slowly by its forelegs and the beast watched him in silence, there seemed to be a look of comprehension in its eyes, though it didn't appear to like what L was trying to do.

"It's going to be alright," he murmured, grabbing a alcoholic swab and quickly sterilizing the site that he'll be taking the blood from.

It let out a low rumble as L grabbed hold of its leg, its head shifting slightly.

"That's it," L wasn't really paying attention to his words anymore (his mind is in shambles) as he readied to puncture the vein, "Just hold still…"

The needle pierced its skin and the beast let out a soft whine.

"It's okay, it's okay," L repeated over and over as the syringe fills up with dark blood, cautiously keeping an eye out on its movements.

He finished the process, stopped the bleeding and left the cell room as quickly as he could with the samples.

L locked the door and gave Watari everything he'd gotten before he crammed down as much candy as he could to calm his nerves.

When he looked back at the cell, it was struggling to get up, resting its body against the side of the cot.

It watched as L sat back onto his chair, its gaze unreadable, fogged over by the effects of the drug.

The beast grunted and gave up, curling up against the bed, licking at the tiny wound on its foreleg.

It then watched the detective calmly for the rest of the night, sometimes moving about the cell room and testing the door against its weight, making L nervously curl his toes and nibbling on his thumb.

Before dawn approaches, it returned to its usual spot and laid on the floor, continuing to watch L before eventually dozing off.

A soft beep sounded on L's laptop and he turned his attention to it, seeing that Watari had sent him a message.

' _L, the group of researchers have experienced some flight complications, their arrival will be delayed. Only Dr. Mikhailov have reached Japan, I will be back with him in about 2 hours.'_

L replied to the message and hoped that they are able to deal with Light's condition.

If not, solving the current case will just become more complicated.


	4. Night 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The researcher that L had invited had arrived to provide insight into Light's problem. At first glance, he looks fine. But really, things are never what they seem...

"Here we are, Doctor," Watari said kindly as he let the man in.

He was blond and pale, looked to be within his thirties. He harbored faint shadows under his eyes as if he'd spent hours of sleepless nights.

Despite that, he possesses sharp green eyes that seemed to glint under the light, observing and dissecting everything that catches his gaze.

His nose is sharp and crooked, his thin mouth stretched into an amiable smile in response to the elder.

He was tall and broad shouldered, as if he'd also spent many hours working out. He was dressed in a white dress shirt and gray trousers, his black shoes clean and polished. In one of his hands he held his single travel bag.

"It's an extravagant place you have here, Mr. Watari," the man said, his words containing a hint of an accent that lengthened his words slightly.

"This facility belongs to L," Watari stated, "And please, just call me Watari."

"Ah, so this is regarding some problems with one of his… assistants you said?" He said, giving Watari a thin smile.

"Yes," Watari said, "We'll be heading there in a bit. I'll show you your accommodations for now, you must be tired from your travels."

"No, that is alright," he said, "I can always see it later; I would like to take a look at him, is that okay?"

"That should be fine," Watari replied, "Right this way, doctor."

They rode the elevator to the lower floors and begun walking down the hallway when they caught L walking towards them from the opposite direction.

Watari was slightly surprised to see that L had left Light unattended, but recovered quickly, gesturing to the detective, "Ah, doctor, let me introduce you. This is Ryuuzaki Rue. He is left to manage this establishment in the place of L. Ryuuzaki, this is Dr. Svyatoslav Mikhailov."

"Pleased to meet you," the scientist said smilingly as he extended a hand.

L ignored it as he stared straight at him and uttered a simple, "Hello."

"Well, hello then," he supplied, pulling his hand back, the frosty smile retained on his face.

"I apologize," Watari said, "He can be rather brusque at times."

"I understand," Mikhailov said, laughing, "Distinguished people tend to be like that after all."

L hummed softly to himself, "Well, Dr. Mikhailov, I will be bringing you to see Light-kun right now so please follow me."

"Pardon?"

"He means Mr. Asahi," Watari clarified, "That's what he'd taken to calling him, they have worked closely together before."

"Ah, I see."

L ignored them and led them silently down the hallway.

They came to the last door where L keyed in a code into the security pad, the reinforced door sliding open before them, revealing the location where they detained Light.

The first thing that the researcher spot was the brightly illuminated cell room, barricaded by a wall of thick iron bars.

It contrasted greatly with the outside of the cell, where the rest of the room is shrouded in darkness save for the glow of a laptop left idle on a table set next to the chair that faces the cell.

A young, slender-looking male was seated on the cot, looking no older than sixteen, though that might not reflect his actual age.

The scientist was aware that some people are capable of looking younger than they are.

He and L approached the bars as the man known as Asahi Light stood and met them by the divider, while Watari remained at the back of the room.

"Light-kun, this is Dr. Mikhailov," L said in English, for the benefit of the Russian doctor.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Light said in the same language and L was mildly impressed that his speech held no hint of the accent that tended to ail native speakers.

"Yes, indeed," Mikhailov smiled as he extended a hand through the bars.

Light shook his hand and smiled warmly, noticing that the researcher's hand felt cold to the touch.

He also noted how the doctor's green eyes were fixed intently on his face, looking like he was imprinting it into his mind.

A chilling sensation run down his spine.

It was gone as quickly as it appeared, Light wondered if he had imagined that, as Mikhailov retracted his hand and smiled at him.

Light ignored the strange feeling and nodded politely, before Mikhailov turned to speak to L about the matter.

* * *

An hour later, they found Mikhailov beginning to set up his things in the middle of the room.

It now vaguely resembles a testing room instead of an observation room that L had intended it to be, fitted with several laboratory devices that Watari had prepared before hand, powerful computers and desks that held some documents that was sent over.

The room is now as brightly illuminated as Light's cell room, which neither L and Light seemed pleased about, as L much preferred to be sitting in the dark unseen.

As for Light, he preferred the comfort of looking into a dimly lit room as opposed to one as blindingly bright as this.

While Mikhailov fussed about with his equipment, L was palming through his files out of curiosity, definitely without a regard for his rude behavior towards the researcher.

Contained within the documents are some profiles of subjects who have been or are now being currently studied, complete with pictures, including those when they have transformed.

L saw that they looked similar to Light when he was changed, all of them had clawed hands for front paws, elongated spine that arched their backs and thick furry necks resembled an actual wolf.

The one thing that looked drastically different is that Light has spiky looking fur on his back lined along his spine when he was changed, resembling the fur of cats that fluffed up in response to threats.

_Interesting…_

He flipped through the records and found more intriguing things.

"I noticed that the all records of their transformation occurs at night," L mentioned, nibbling on his thumb.

"Generally," Mikhailov said, not looking up from the monitors as he begin to access his files and tests, "Though on occasions they will turn also in times of great stress."

L glanced over at Light who unwittingly adopted a worried look on his face.

"It shouldn't be anything to worry about if his first turning was recent," Mikhailov stated dully, "Since the transformation is new, he should not turn that easily in these times."

He finished attaching the last set of cables and said, "I've looked through his profile as I came, how old did you say he was?"

"He's currently eighteen years and three months old," L responded, wondering briefly why he hadn't asked Light himself.

"That's quite old," the researcher remarked absentmindedly, "According to what I've learnt, werewolves turn when they're no older than sixteen."

_Sixteen, huh._

L turned to Light, who still has a slightly miffed look on his face and unexpectedly smirked.

"What?" Light managed to keep his irritation from seeping into his tone as he said that.

"I see Light-kun is a late-bloomer," L smiled playfully.

That earned him a pointed glare and he chuckled in response.

The scientist raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't question it as he opened up his files.

"Here's what my research had turned up so far…" Mikhailov said as he showed it to L.

Light was apparently left out of the discussion and L glanced at him briefly.

"I think Light-kun should see this as well," L commented blandly.

Mikhailov looked up, then at Light who was standing in the middle of the cell.

"That would be difficult, he's in the cell," the scientist said offhandedly and returned to his data.

L's eyes narrowed at the that.

"You did say that Light-kun will not turn during the day, right?" L asked.

"He should not be able to," Mikhailov said after a long moment of staring at the screen, "Unless faced with high levels of stress, it would be difficult for him to turn."

L was silent as he thought.

Eventually, he walked over to the cell door and produced a key from the depths of his jeans pocket.

The teen gaped at him, "What are you doing?"

"Letting Light-kun out, of course," L said nonchalantly.

The brunette looked stunned, before his features twisted into a frown.

"Are you nuts?" Light argued, "You can't guarantee that I absolutely won't turn!"

"Does Light-kun prefer to be contained?"

"Of course not!" Light snapped, "But I-"

_I'm dangerous._

Light's glare faltered as the thought flashed briefly through his mind. He turned away from the detective who continued to stare at him with a seemingly blank gaze, the key hovering right before the lock.

Both of them failed to notice the scrutinizing look that Mikhailov sent them briefly, his eyes narrowed in observation.

"Look, just don't do it, alright?" Light said, as he looked straight at L, "I'm fine listening from here."

L stared at him for a long moment, before he sighed in defeat, "Fine. Go ahead, doctor."

* * *

The researcher left for his room after a few hours of showing L and Light most of his findings, presumably to finally rest and freshen up after being awake for quite a while.

Mikhailov had agreed to send Light a copy of his digital files at L's request, where the teen now sat browsing through them, his brows furrowed in concentration.

L was doing the same thing and found the videos he had of the transformations to be the most disturbing.

The changes are grotesque, their bodies twisting and face contorted in agony such that some of their screams are silent as they clawed at things around them, open-mouthed while their bodies struggled to accommodate their new forms.

The detective could occasionally see their bones stretching beneath their skin to the point where it almost breaks, in one instant it did and bright blood spilled out from the person's torn arm before fur the color of his hair grew over it, the man's tormented shrieks reverberating throughout the room.

Light glanced over at him pointedly and L lowered the volume in silent agreement.

Other than that, their transformation resembles Light's very closely, the way they had writhed while they turn, the aggression shown reflected in Light's other form.

He found that it was the only thing he saw in their bright eyes, similar to Light's, but not quite.

The change back into their original forms were the same, the transition was much smoother, no awkwardly contorting bones or skin being stretched beyond what they can handle.

All of them are unconscious as they turned back, one of the things that remained constant throughout the documented files.

The timings of those vary and L took note of that, slowly beginning to see a pattern in them as he went through the logs.

It isn't difficult for him to guess what exactly are the various timings as they progressed through a single year.

He found it in Mikhailov's notes later, indicating that the scientist had came to the same conclusion as well, that the werewolves always changes back at the light of dawn.

The same could not be said for the times of the initial transformations, as the researcher had no information of it as L reached the end of his documents.

L looked away from the files and regarded Light, who's still in the middle of looking through everything.

"Has Light-kun read the part about the timings?"

The teen looked up briefly and nodded.

"What does Light-kun think?"

"If what affected their changes back are the times of the sunrise," Light muttered as he frowned in thought, "Then maybe what is causing them to turn into beasts and back are the celestial bodies."

"Celestial bodies?" L asked, noticing the use of the plural form.

"It can't be just the sun, like what Dr. Mikhailov had assumed, judging by his words in this," Light said, "Because the sun could not be affecting the first transformation because it'll be late into the night by then. Some of them even changed before the sun even went down."

"So Light-kun is suggesting the moon?"

"Yeah, not because the legends had werewolves being associated with it but it's plausible," the teen continued and L watched in fascination at the sharp concentration on his face, "I wrote down the times and found that there's a pattern in it."

"Similar to the sun rise?" L was slightly amused that Light is so focused in his thoughts that he hadn't realized that L had already come to the same conclusion.

It was interesting to witness the gears in motion, nonetheless. Much better than seeing others take forever to realize it, or never at all.

"Yeah," Light said, "But instead of the times for the moon rising or setting, it is when the moon is at its peak in the sky."

L smiled, pleased, "And how did Light-kun find those timings?"

"I sort of calculated the altitudes of the moon," Light uttered, "Since we already knew the exact location of where the recordings came from."

This is where L tilts his head inquisitively, "Light-kun knows how to do that?"

"I kind of studied astronomy briefly a few years ago," Light said hesitantly, "As a side hobby, sort of."

"That is impressive," L commented, partly because he was never interested and never learnt how to do it, even though he's years older than Light.

"Uh, thanks," the teen said, flushing slightly at the unexpected compliment.

L's laptop emitted a 'beep', indicating that the Task Force had called.

He glanced over at Light who showed a worried look on his face as he took the call.

* * *

Light looked positively stressed out by the end of it, as Soichiro had sounded much more anxious about his son's wellbeing and demanded that he sees him.

L somehow managed to postpone that, letting him know that he will get back to him, before ending the conversation.

He looked over at Light, who had paled considerably.

"We'll need to let Yagami-san know soon."

"I know."

"He'll find out eventually," L added.

"I  _know_  that," Light muttered, his voice faltering from anxiety that brimmed in his eyes.

He let that go as Mikhailov reentered the room and L relayed to him what Light and he had discovered while he wasn't here.

* * *

L chose to forgo his snacks that night, as they awaited Light's next transformation.

It was nearing eleven, the hour where Light would change tonight, if they were correct in their assumptions.

Light was seated on his cot, trying not to fidget out of nerves as the researcher prepared to record the essentials for tonight.

Watari stood in the back of the room, armed with a dart gun as he usually does these few nights.

L did instruct him not to use it unless it was really, really necessary, Watari's apparent nervousness becoming a tangible thing that he grew wary of.

He did know that Watari is well-trained in marksmanship after all and is now particularly worried about him turning this skill onto Light.

_The absurdity of it._

Mikhailov checked his watch, "It should be happening right about… now."

L glanced at the clock on his laptop as the seconds ticked by.

A loud gasp was emitted from the cell, as Light doubled over clutching onto his sides, his strained face hidden from view.

The researcher watched in rapt attention as the teen shot up from the cot and tumbled to the floor with a sharp cry, the image not unlike the ones in his video files.

L worried at his thumb as Light again changed in front of his eyes.

Light let out a sob as intense heat and agony burnt through his veins, his body writhing as he tried to get away from the pain within himself.

He caught sight of the witnesses, the dark fascination of the scientist and the apprehension on Watari's face.

L's worried gaze was the last thing he sees before his mind was consumed by the darkness.

* * *

"Interesting…" Mikhailov said as he regarded the beast within the cage, as it glared balefully at him, its tail held straight and stiff behind it, waving slightly.

He took a step towards the barrier and it snarled, slamming into the iron bars and growling in the most aggressive manner that L had ever seen.

Mikhailov seemed unfazed at it as he chuckled.

"He's really big," he said, most of his focus on the snarling werewolf, "I didn't expect him to be this big."

"Do you suppose their sizes have a meaning?" L said and noticed Light's ears had twitched slightly when he spoke, though he remained glowering at the scientist that stood the nearest to the bars.

"Ah, you'll need to ask my associate when he arrives," the Russian researcher commented distractedly, "He'll know."

The beast growled, barking menacingly, its jaws snapping as Mikhailov walked away to his computer.

It then prowled about the cell, staring at the scientist the whole time.

L wasn't sure if he was imagining it but Light's werewolf seemed to behave in the most hostile way towards Mikhailov so far, as it stalked up to the bars and snarled once more.

It didn't rest or let up once, its attention fixed solely on Mikhailov for some reason, ignoring everyone else in the room altogether.

L was once again hit with a nagging suspicion, one he couldn't place as he glanced briefly at the scientist.

Mikhailov noticed his gaze and turned to smile at him.

L could not ignore the insistent growling as the researcher spoke to him, feeling the werewolf's eyes piercing a hole in its stare.

He could be wrong.

But in all the years of his life, L had learnt that caution is quite the helpful thing.

L responded and turned back to watch the werewolf.

The stark intelligence in its eyes are not something to be ignored.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> Finally got this out after all this time, excuse my absence lately. I had really wanted to work on this, and the other stuffs that are currently in progress, but school got in the way.
> 
> And just to let you know, this year is HELL.
> 
> The reason this chapter took a bit of time was because of mid-terms, I was in the midst of it. Now that mid-terms are over, the final exams are just around the corner.
> 
> And holy shit I am not looking forward to redo this (so-called) grade in the next year (if I fail the criteria, of course… just why).
> 
> And there's this really long, really unnecessary stupid project thing that is important in the final grade.
> 
> Like why the hell does it even exist?
> 
> So just to let y'all know, I probably won't be updating much, same for Dark Shards and Chains of Fate, if you're reading them as well.
> 
> So yeah, I guess that is all and I hope I'll still be alive by the end of this year xD
> 
> Bleh. :P


	5. Night 5

The door to the cells hissed open and the dark-haired detective entered, bringing with him an air of irritation as he sucked sullenly on a pink lollipop.

He had just returned from the workroom where the Task Force basically plagued him with questions of Light's whereabouts, he had to assure them that he's alright – especially to Soichiro.

He really had to get Light to tell him soon, before Soichiro attempts to forcibly find and break his way into this area.

It probably wouldn't be a surprise if that happens.

He looked over to the cell and was mildly puzzled to find that Light was not in sight, other than the bundle of blanket on the cot.

"Light-kun?"

The bundle shifted, and L confirmed that Light had indeed finished with his physical exams with Mikhailov.

"What is Light-kun doing?" L asked as he walked over to his chair.

"I'm tired," came Light's muffled voice.

"It was a basic physical examination, was it not?" L questioned, rolling the candy in his mouth as he perched on the chair.

Light answered with a non-committed grunt and went silent.

L left him alone and returned to the Kira Case.

The blanket shifted again and L detected it was discomfort that caused the movement.

He pulled the sweet out with a soft 'pop', before asking, "Is Light-kun feeling sick?"

Another grunt.

"Light-kun?"

Light poked his head irritably from under the covers as he muttered, "Yes, asshole."

"Did you ask the researcher why?"

Light glared at him, but didn't move as he grumbled, "Yeah, he said something about the mind not used to the transition or something."

The teen looked away briefly as he said that and L suspected that Light is withholding additional information from him.

"Sounds like a shift in brain chemicals, perhaps that is what causes the nausea," L suggested, before testing Light, "What else did he say?"

A pause and a surprisingly miserable look before Light muttered, "Nothing."

Before L could observe him some more, Light had retreated beneath the blanket and turned away from him.

A loud crunch sounded from L as he chewed through his lollipop in agitation.

He sighed and bit off the rest of the candy and threw the empty stick into the waste basket.

He made a note to himself to observe the footage of Light and Mikhailov later, if only to find out what had happened to cause such behavior.

Light looked positively forlorn and L was sure that it was not only from the sickness.

"Does Light-kun think he can recommend something to help with it?"

"He just said that I'll get used to it, eventually," Light uttered with a sigh, his voice indistinct as it was directed at the wall.

The teen proceeded to ignore L for the rest of the hour, this the detective wasn't too happy about.

_Nobody ignores L dammit._

"Mr. Ryuuzaki," L turned to face the Russian scientist standing behind him, had hadn't notice when the man had entered the room – a startling first. "Do you have a minute?"

He had a grim look on his face, which makes L wonder whether this had anything to do with how Light was acting earlier.

_Did something bad happen, or Mikhailov found a problem with him, an undesirable issue – is that why Light seemed so down?_

"Yes," L said, hopping off the chair and began to follow Mikhailov out of the room; the researcher clearly did not want to discuss this in front of Light.

He cast a glance at the teen lying in the cot, having not moved an inch since he went silent.

The door hissed close and L stood in the hallway with the blonde man, his hands shoved deep in his pocket.

"What is it, doctor?" L questioned, his probing eyes searching the other's.

"Mr. Ryuuzaki, I know you are very concerned about your partner," he started emphatically, "I take that you are searching for a cure?"

"Certainly," L said, the hidden undertones in his voice indicating him a fool. The detective leaned back on one leg as he scratched it with his other foot, "That is why L called you here, to help him."

A saddened look came over his features as he stated, "What if, Mr. Ryuuzaki, I say that there is no cure for werewolfism?"

L stared at him for a long moment, as he began to nibble on his thumb unconsciously, "So you are telling me that you can't help him?"

"No, regrettably, no," Mikhailov said, his eyes flickering to look down at the floor, "In all my years of research, along with my associates, we have not found a cure, or anyway to alleviate his…  _curse_."

L stayed silent, mulling over the words before uttering, "Is there no way to improve the situation?"

He shook his head, "No, there is not. Mr. Asahi will remain this way as long as he lives, turning into a ferocious beast every single night. He will be a monster that hungers for flesh, never in control of his own actions and it'll only get worse."

Mikhailov looked at him seriously, his green eyes glittering as he said, "I've briefly checked his mental and physical health earlier and from that I've realized something crucial. I apologize for asking but Mr. Asahi seemed to be a prideful man, is it?"

"That it is," L said hesitantly, studying the man, trying to pinpoint the nature of his intentions.

"Well, it doesn't look good, his mental health," Mikhailov stated, "You remember my mentioning that his changing is also affected by stress? Soon, his transformation will not be confined by time only, it will depend on his emotional and mental state as well. If that is deteriorating…"

L frowned, "You're saying that he will turn into it permanently because of that?"

Mikhailov sighed, his eyes taking on a solemn light, "I'm afraid so…"

A heavy silence hung between them, as L absorbed the possibility that was brought up.

"Are you so certain?" L demanded, he couldn't believe it, how would someone with a strong mind like Light, at least what he had observed of that, could succumb to a force like this?

"I've seen it happen before, Mr. Ryuuzaki," Mikhailov said, "I'm sure you have seen my research as well, some people with a certain mindset, or state of mind can be taken over and consumed by it.

He looked at the detective intently as he spoke the next words, "They never turn back."

L was silent.

He still found this skeptical, but he is also one to practice caution, to take things the worst way to prepare for that worst outcome.

L can't believe that Light's mind will be gone, just like that.

But if Light has a high possibility to have been Kira…

Then the chances for this might be probable.

"How long does he have?" L asked.

"Not long," Mikhailov uttered after a pause, "I'll say about four days at worse and ten days at best."

The gnawing in his chest got worse, at the prospect of his suspect, an enemy and opponent that he had valued for his brilliance and the challenge he brought, falling to such a state, in circumstances out of both of their control.

L's more sentimental side also found that he wasn't ready to lose the first and only person he considered a companion, as much as he had intended the truth to seem a like a lie to a suspicious Light.

_How could he ever hope to get a rise out of the only person he considered a companion if he turns into a mindless beast such as that?_

"Is there no way to help him?" L asked, his tone bordering on demanding, "At least to stop him from turning so soon?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ryuuzaki."

'So what then?' L gritted his teeth.

Must he continue to keep Light here once he had completely turned into the beast, monitor him and constantly watch him as he prowls about his cage?

And for what? Wait for him to turn back? That is a possibility, but it could very much be a waste of time and effort, not to mention security concerns.

Light has family here as well, could L take the teen with him once he had to leave? For the safety of the others?

That doesn't seem like a beneficial option, not to Light or anyone else.

"If you would like to hear me out," Mikhailov said suddenly, "If that really happens, perhaps you could pass him over to me?"

L glanced at him as he added, "So that I could continue the research, perhaps find a cure for him and the other werewolves I have at my lab."

L thought about it, it sounded feasible, all of the researcher's work would be back at his laboratory, the facilities geared towards their needs and for the werewolves, since he had been studying them for a while. L also can't be bringing Light around with him all the time if he were to turn permanently.

But he found that he didn't trust Dr. Mikhailov enough to just agree with him.

"I'll consider it," L decided, observing how the scientist brushed off his searching gaze.

"I'll be waiting for your answer, then," he gave the detective a thin smile, before turning to walk towards the elevator, possibly to return to his lodgings.

L turned and walked back into the room, finding that Light had not moved at all since he last saw him.

Briefly, he wondered if Light had fallen asleep but realized that he hadn't when he lifted his head to glance over.

All L could think of is that the teen looked weary, his eyes glazed over and cloudy.

Maybe he did fall asleep at some point, a side effect from depression that Mikhailov had hinted at.

L padded over to the bars, where Light had turned away and asked, "Would Light-kun like to play a game?"

Light turned back, it seemed L had managed to gain his attention after all.

"What game?"

L smiled as he walked over to the table, bringing out a familiar black-and-white checkered box.

"Chess."

Light stared at him for a moment, before slowly shifting to sit on bed.

L tried not to grin to himself as he began making his way towards the bars.

"What are you doing?" Light asked suspiciously when he saw L moving closer.

"Should chess not be played in close proximity to each other?" L tilted his head in question.

"You shouldn't come so close," Light said in warning, not moving from his spot.

L didn't listen, of course, as he settled down right in front of the bars and looked up at him, "And what is Light-kun going to do about it?"

"I could hurt you."

"Don't be ridiculous," L scoffed as he set up the game, "You're still you."

Light eyed him without a word, stubbornly remaining in place.

"What is Light-kun waiting for?" L taunted, a slow grin spreading on his face to provoke him further (he raised his eyebrows too but no one saw that because of his hair), "Scared?"

Light's eyes blazed at that comment, as he got off the cot and huffily sat down on the other side of the bars.

'That's more like it', L thought to himself, continuing to smile just to piss him off.

"I'm taking white," Light demanded, glaring at him.

"Go ahead," L let him have that one, out of rare kindness that he's apparently in possession of, "I'll beat you either way."

A smirk formed itself on Light's face as he reached down to move a pawn, "We'll see about that."

* * *

Soichiro was returning to the workroom after a much-needed break when he noticed a foreign stranger walk out of the elevator around the far corner.

The blonde man did not notice him as he stalked past towards a different hallway, towards one of the areas Soichiro thought L had never used.

He also notice something drop from his pocket and walked up to it.

His initial intention was to pick it up and chase after the man to return it.

Then he noticed that it was a card, used for access to other parts of the building.

It looked familiar too.

Soichiro realized that it was the same type of card used to access the prison in the basement, one he had seen Watari used when he and Light were in confinement.

Could it be? The reason why no one but L and Watari had seen Light these few days?

They said he was sick but they told him not to worry about it.

How can someone be sick for so long but not have a condition that demands immediate concern?

Soichiro had found the situation to be highly suspicious and L did not bother to cover up in a more convincing way, even going to the workroom to check on them.

What if they found something incriminating about Light and decided to confine him without any of their knowledge?

He didn't understand why they would do such a thing.

But he had to see his son.

So he clasped the card tightly in his hand and headed for the elevator.

* * *

"Ha, checkmate," Light grinned as he put the final piece in place.

L nibbled on his thumb as he stared at his unsalvageable game, his pieces locked firmly in check.

"I suppose that is my loss," he muttered, feeling slightly irritated.

"Totally," Light smirked, "I take it that you want another go?"

"Certainly."

"Sore loser."

"I don't think that Light-kun is any better," L commented blandly.

"Oh yeah?" Light challenged, swiftly resetting the board, "I'll show you."

"I'm sure you will," L said in disinterest, prompting Light to once again glare at him.

"You're fucking annoying," he growled.

"Just like your acting," L stared at him pointedly.

Light flinched at that, having not expecting his act to be seen through so easily.

"I'm not so clueless to social norms to be so blind to that, Light-kun," L mentioned, "In fact, it's rather painful to watch."

A sharp glare, "What do you suppose I should do about it?"

L opened his mouth to answer when the door hissed open, Light's eyes flickered towards it and paled.

He turned and spotted Soichiro's imposing form in the doorway, face dark as he looked upon his son who's currently kept behind bars and at L who not told him a single thing about this happening.

"Ryuuzaki," he started gravely as L slowly stood, "I want an explanation for this."

L saw out of the corner of his eyes that Light had looked to the floor, his hands clenched tightly on his legs.

"Light-kun," Light jumped and turned slightly to regard him, "I'm afraid we have delayed enough."

"Delayed what?" Soichiro barked, his glower reserved for L only, but it was Light who cowered at his gaze.

L did not react as the older man stormed up to him, "Light-kun's condition, Yagami-san."

" _What condition_?" He demanded, "What condition does he have that you have to keep him behind bars?"

Light started to tremble at his loud voice while L stared up at him impassively, "It's not any condition that you are thinking about, Yagami-san."

"Then what is it?"

"Werewolfism, Yagami-san."

" _What_?" Both Light and Soichiro flinched, as Light lowered his head even more, while Soichiro stared over at his son as if seeing him in a new light.

L did not like the look in his eyes, or the way that Soichiro did not question any more, as if he knew what L talked about, without the need providing prove at such an absurd claim.

"That's his condition?" The fear in the older man's voice was obvious and Light's gaze lowered even further, as if in shame.

"Yes, I meant to tell you that," L said.

Soichiro stared at his son without a single word, before leaving something on the desk and walking out in silence.

L looked over at the table and found the access card that he had given to Mikhailov. He glared at the door that Soichiro had disappeared to, before turning to face the teen, who sat shivering in the cell.

"Light-kun?" He blurted, alarmed.

The teen twitched, raising his head.

The false smile on his face shocked him, it was enough to make L feel a pang of pain in his own chest.

"I'm fine," Light muttered as he lowered his head again, his voice trailing off, "I'm fine…"

He turned away and climbed onto the cot, disappearing under the blanket once again.

L stared, sighed as he began to clean up his chess set.

"He'll come around," he muttered after a long time, just to say something to the clearly distraught teen.

Light didn't react as L walked back to his chair, returning to his work in silence.

_No, he won't come around._

Light fought against a sob that built against his throat, even his father had rejected him.

_Because I'm a monster, just like what_ **_he_ ** _said._

Light's eyes slid shut in despair.

_A sick, mindless monster._


	6. Night 6

A whole apple pie was on the menu for breakfast that morning, placed on L's desk with a piece neatly cut out and served on a plate the way he liked it.

The dessert looked captivatingly tantalizing, the crust roasted to a crumbly golden perfection, the equally golden gooey filling of apple chunks laden with the heavy scent of melted sugar and cinnamon oozed teasingly out of the perfectly sliced piece, topped with copious amount of fluffy whipped cream, silky maple syrup and thick chocolate sauce.

It would make any diabetic pass out from high blood sugar just from looking at it alone - the perfect meal for a certain sugar-loving insomniac.

L, however, didn't manage to find an appetite for the apple pie.

A pity, he had been looking forward to consuming this for a whole three months, it was Watari's special treat when he felt generous enough to indulge L with his unique apple pie recipe, kept secret even from the detective himself; not like L would ever trouble himself with the baking.

He couldn't quite muster the desire to eat the pie when the younger male he is watching is dejected and depressed and smiling like nothing had happened.

The detective had mentioned just yesterday that he abhorred seeing Light putting on a front such as this.

He supposed old habits die hard, as Light went through his own breakfast with sickening contentment, thanking Watari for the meal with that same fake smile and looking like he was trying not to be a burden of all things.

Everyone knew Light wasn't even close to being modest, he's the most arrogant kid around.

Well, maybe just L and Watari, everyone else that L saw are pretty much blind to his antics.

L sighed and set his fork down for the fifth time that morning, staring mournfully at the piece of pie as it slowly cools off and most definitely losing its wonderful warmth.

He glanced over at Light and wondered how the hell did he manage to keep an appetite after what had happened yesterday?

Years and years of practice at falseness, he answered himself.

It isn't quite as pristine when he's someone who can clearly see through it all.

Now that Soichiro had found out about Light, it probably won't be necessary to keep this matter away from the Task Force now. It was not like L had not planned to cover it up from them in the first place, it wasn't a necessary thing for him to do. He couldn't really fathom the reason for him to have done so, but perhaps out of consideration for the younger male that he is currently watching. It wasn't only the scientist who knew that his psychological health might take a hit from the others' knowledge.

Since his father had already found out about it, it probably can't get any worse. He had the feeling that Light had expected him to let the others know already, keeping it a secret from them any longer might cause problems for the investigation. That, L would not tolerate.

He glanced over at Light and asked for Watari to put the pie away, it won't be as good later but hell would freeze over if L ever allowed his desserts to go to waste completely.

"Light-kun?"

"Yes, Ryuuzaki?"

L managed not to cringe, even his words held a false saccharine sweetness to it, no offense against sweets but…

"I have a proposition," L said, "Seeing as Light-kun had ruined yet another set of clothes last night."

The teen turned to give him a startled look, the sausage hanging in the air, the rounded end pointing towards his open mouth.

L stared.

Light suddenly realized what this might look like, as he hurriedly lowered the fork.

The older man certainly did not mean for his conversation to start with such unplanned innuendos.

"I have prepared a bigger cell for Light-kun to move into," L said quickly, before Light could accuse him of anything perverted like he tends to do,

"And why is that?"

"Because Light-kun had not done anything Kira-like or aroused suspicion which your current cell is meant for, there is no need to keep Light-kun in such a cramped cell where Light-kun's only furniture are a cot and a lavatory." L explained, "So I think that Light-kun should be able to move to a better living space."

"What does that have to do with my clothes?" Light questioned, after a moment of silence of what seems to be consideration at L's words.

"I would recommend Light-kun take them off before the transformation starts, so they wouldn't tear every single time." L said blankly, "Seeing as Light-kun is highly concerned about his apparels of choice."

"Pervert," Light said expectedly but without the usual harsh bite to his words.

"It was simply a practical suggestion. The new cell would have its own bathroom, with opaque walls and door," L said, as if to reduce his 'pervert' status in Light's eyes.

"I will be watching through the camera, still," L grinned as he added, dashing any new hopes Light may suddenly have regarding his privacy.

The teen huffed, deciding that he was already full as he set the plate on the floor, leaving it for Watari to collect when he comes in next.

The elderly man had clearly been watching the cameras as he entered a scarce minute later.

L had noticed that Watari is being more polite than usual, his motions apologetic towards the teen.

He thought that might have something to do with how he had seen what happened yesterday, while he was alone in the surveillance room.

L turned to the teen and said, "We will be moving Light-kun right after this, there will be restraints involved, if you desire so."

Light nodded affirmative and they took him up a floor, towards the new rooms.

* * *

Matsuda walked alone on the sidewalk, returning from lunch at a new Chinese restaurant that he had been eyeing for days.

The quality of the food was not what he had expected, it was worse, the taste bland and the dishes too oily for his liking.

He shuddered and promised himself that he is never going back there ever again.

The bachelor looked up at the Taskforce headquarters, the structure standing tall above the other buildings as it glinted in the dull afternoon light.

Which floor did Light and Ryuuzaki stayed on again? He can't really remember, all he knew was that their rooms are many floors above their workroom; Ryuuzaki hadn't exactly allowed them to roam around most of the unused areas.

The black-haired man could only wonder whatever had happened to Light. The detective had mentioned that he was sick for a whole five days now and it was nothing but worrying.

He wondered why Ryuuzaki had never specified what is ailing the teen or allow them to see him, which must be the reason why Soichiro had looked so stricken yesterday which prompted them to make him go home for the day.

_The chief must be worried sick…_

As Matsuda neared the building, he noticed a black car driving past him. It looked a lot like L's car, the dark Rolls Royce with black tinted windows bearing much resemblance.

Then the car took a left turn and disappeared into the building.

_Wait, what?_

Matsuda was puzzled, staring at the parking lot entrance with wide eyes.

Curiosity took hold of him as he hurried along the path.

* * *

"This is Dr. Kaufer and Dr. Krupin," Mikhailov said, as he turned to gesture to the newcomers, the man and woman respectively.

L set his eyes upon the two, noting their differences from the first glance.

The male scientist was pale and thin, his build slight compared to the larger Russian in front of him. Kaufer has the shadows of a beard upon his face at the moment, sporting dark, shaggy hair that hung about his eyes, his expression reserved and hesitant as he set the blue orbs on the paler detective.

He wore a white shirt, gray wool jacket and black pants that hung slightly from his frame, his sneakers old and dull against the polished floor. His travel bag was laid next to him, frayed and worn down after many years of usage.

To his left, Dr. Krupin stood in a pale blue dress that clung to her form. The hem of her dress hung to her thighs. It was worn with a coat made out of thick, white fur that fluttered whenever she moved. Her blonde hair was pinned up, allowing only a few stray locks of curly hair framing her face. Beside her is a red leather luggage bag that looked new, its surface shining under the florescent lights.

She was smiling at the detective, her expression cold as if she was looking upon a petri dish inside the lab.

"Pleased to meet you," Kaufer said in a soft yet gruff tone, as he held his hand out to shake L's.

L, as usual, just stared at the proffered hand and uttered a curt greeting.

Kaufer looked baffled and slightly embarrassed as he lowered his hand, smiling awkwardly as he nodded back.

Krupin didn't bother with a handshake and simply introduced herself, her demeanor calm and cool.

"What do the two of you do?"

"Ah, I'm a wildlife biologist, so to speak," Kaufer said, "I used to study wolves, before Dr. Mikhailov invited me to partake in his research."

He then gestured to the female scientist, "Nina here is a biochemist, she specializes in studying the chemical changes, creating drugs, things like that."

She bowed with a slight tilt of her head.

L nodded, "I suppose you would like to be shown to your lodgings, Watari will bring you two to your respective rooms."

His aide nodded beside him, and produced two cards for each of them.

"These are the access cards for this floor," Watari said, "Please take care not to lose them."

The two scientist nodded.

L watched them turn and leave, while Mikhailov hung back with him.

"Do you not have work to do, Doctor?"

"I guess not, currently," he said, turning to the detective.

L stared and scratched the back of his neck, aiming to unnerve the other.

Mikhailov cleared his throat, "I suppose I will go check on my documents, then."

The Russian man then left without another word, he retrieved his own card that hung by his belt.

L eyed the piece of plastic and pondered on the chances of it dislodging from the clip, as he nibbled on the flesh on his thumb.

He could use some apple pie right about now, actually.

* * *

The first thing the Task Force saw that afternoon was Matsuda returning from lunch with a strange look on his face as he muttered to himself.

"Matsuda!"

He jumped, turning to face Aizawa timidly.

The older man scowled, "You're late."

"Urm, sorry?"

Aizawa glared, sighed and shook his head, thinking it best not to bother with the other's idiotic antics any longer. He returned to sorting out the lists of deaths that were occurring, hoping to find some lead for the Kira Case. The way that the two genii, Light and Ryuuzaki are missing out on work these few days is not sitting well with him either.

Matsuda laughed awkwardly, slowly walking back to his desk. He took a seat and had a tentative look around.

"Where's the chief?"

"He took the rest of today off," Aizawa replied without looking at him, his eyes focused on the lists.

"Oh, okay."

The younger male turned back to his desk, staring at the mountain of papers on its surface. He made no move to start work, as his mind trailed back to what he had seen earlier.

_Wildlife biologist? Biochemist?_

_What would we need them for?_

He could maybe imagine Ryuuzaki asking to work with the latter, if they found that Kira is working with some kind of elusive, biological weapon.

_But a wildlife biologist? And why wolves specifically?_

It kept bugging Matsuda insistently as he glanced distractedly for any signs of L.

He shouldn't keep this in the dark, he has the responsibility to reveal things to them. They are part of the same team after all.

Matsuda turned to the others, "Hey guys-"

Just as Aizawa raised his head to glare at him, the door hissed open, revealing L who padded barefoot into the room. The others stopped their work and looked at him quizzically, as if they sensed that he had news for them, perhaps regarding the absence of Light.

"I have an announcement to make," L started, his bland eyes staring at all of them.

"What, Ryuuzaki?"

"Please follow me," he said after a glance, and turned the way he came without any explanations.

Matsuda caught Aizawa grumbling under his breath at L's attitude and stormed after him, while Mogi did so quietly, his actions the most neutral of all of them.

He followed them last, nervous about what elusive information that they are about to find.

* * *

L led them down the elevator to basement floor two, one that none of them had ever been to before, which is a few floors above where they had kept Light, Misa and Soichiro that time.

The detective didn't seem inclined to provide explanations, so no one asked anything on their way down. It was silent when the elevator doors opened and they followed him down the corridor. They stopped before a door where he keyed a long string of codes into the keypad. The door opened and he led them into a rather large room.

"This is the new observation room," L said, "I had Watari prepare this a few days ago. Light-kun is being held in here."

He gestured to the bars, where they see Light sitting on a couch on what looked like a cozy living room, complete with a television, bookshelf, carpets, etc. Behind the living room is a small kitchen area large enough for two people to utilize. They were puzzled to see this setup, and the teen. Light didn't seem ill like L had said, just sitting with a grim expression on the sofa.

Beside that are two other spaces in the walls fitted with bars, the one on the far right held a bedroom, with large curtains that are currently drawn to the sides. The middle room is completely empty and all three of them are connected by doors, the bedroom with one extra door that would lead into the bathroom.

"What is the meaning of this?" Aizawa was the first to ask, "What is he doing in there?"

"Calm down, Aizawa-san," L said, "This had nothing to do with the investigation. It was because of something that happened to him."

The others listened in shocked silence as L briefly explained what had happened, while Light sat silently in the same spot, looking quietly accepting of the whole thing.

When L finished, they just stared at him.

"This is bogus," Aizawa said.

"It is true."

"Incredible," Mogi uttered. L turned to him at that and saw that there was a certain enthusiasm in his eyes that he had never seen before.

Aizawa noticed as well and stared at him quizzically.

The usually stoic man flushed and muttered, "Sorry, I just find werewolves fascinating, I was interested in that since young. I just didn't think it would be true."

"In any case," L continued as he ignored that, "I would ask that we continue with the investigation nonetheless, I will have Watari set up contacts for us. Also, I have hired researchers of this field regarding Light-kun's condition. Do not, at any moment divulge to them my identity or any one of yours, use your aliases if you see them. Watari will provide keycards for you should you need to come to me personally."

"Hold on, what about Yagami-san?" Matsuda asked, not noticing how Light flinched slightly at the mention, "He ought to know about this too."

"Yagami-san already knows about this," L said expressionlessly, "But I will let you hold on to an extra if he wants access at any point in time."

The bachelor seemed surprised to find that Soichiro had known and cast a glance over at Light, whose face looked paler when they had just came in.

"That is all," L said suddenly, "I ask that you all go back to work, Watari will find you in the workroom later."

They left the room and Light let out a silent breath of relief, when he could no longer feel their eyes on him. He pulled his hands apart, not realizing that he had clasped them together tightly during the entire duration of their presence in the room. At least it seemed that they had taken it better than his father had, probably because he had no relations to him whatsoever.

The thought about that made it hurt even more.

He raised his gaze and set it upon the detective, who now faced away from him, wisely giving him his space by staying silent.

Light found that he was not sure what to think of him, as he had been easily accepting of him as though nothing had changed, even called in people to try and help him. On one hand, it might be because of curiosity, it's not everyday that one stumbles upon something like this and pass up the chance to investigate it. L would be that kind of person. On the other hand, L had been nothing but considerate lately, which is either because he actually cared or that he is just using it to get closer to him. Light is suspected as Kira, after all.

However better it made him feel, Light is still wary of him.

L is not someone to be trusted.

* * *

That night, L sat in the couch in the middle of his side of the room, observing Light's other form who seemed more angry and cautious than before. His behavior was not as intense as the time where Dr. Mikhailov had appeared, but bad enough to make L crave a tall glass of chocolate parfait to relieve some of the tension. Preferably with a generous amount of whipped cream, caramel and at least ten bars of milk chocolate on top.

Dr. Kaufer sat next to him, watching the werewolf rampage in the cage and silently taking down notes.

"It seems agitated," L said.

That made the doctor jump, he turned to L as if noticing him for the first time. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention." He gestured to the beast like he wanted to say more, but quickly gave up and asked, "You were saying?"

L repeated dully, his eyes returning to stare at the wolf, who snarled back at him.

"Ah, I supposed he was just upset by our presence," he explained, glancing at it, "Since he'd never seen us before."

Krupin who was also in the room was silent, as she prepared a solution in what seems to be a complicated apparatus that L had no name for. He had consulted her about her general observations earlier, which she had little to say about but that their genetic build up seems to change between the states and that this werewolfism seemed to be spread through heredity, some who gain the genes may change and some may not. What activates them remains a mystery.

What Kaufer said intrigued L slightly, "What have you learnt about their behavior so far, Doctor?"

"Well, from what I've seen," Kaufer turned to his notepad, "Their behavior and mannerisms closely resembled that of actual wolves. You can learn how they feel from studying their body language. As of now, you can see that he's facing us directly and his ears are pointed forwards, towards us, that tells us that he is alert and wary. His teeth are bared, that is a warning to us that he will attack if we get too close."

The male researcher then scratched his chin distractedly, noticing something that no one else saw.

"Did you move him recently, by any chance?"

L turned to him, "Yes, this afternoon. How did you know?"

"He doesn't seem comfortable in the new environment, he's pacing around on his toes," he said, pointing with his pencil as L glanced over. "Werewolves are somewhat territorial, they get nervous if you move them from places that they are used to."

"I see," L put his thumb to his lips, thinking. "Do they remember who they are?"

"Sorry?" The scientist turned to him in confusion as he was once again caught in the moment of deep concentration.

L repeated what he asked, for his benefit.

Kaufer scratched his head, "Well, from what I see, they don't remember who they were. It was like their forms are separate entities from each other, I'm still trying to figure that out."

"However, they do seem to react the same way towards things that they knew while they were human, they probably have this memory retained in them that becomes instinctive once they change," he said, "There's this woman back in our lab that was incredibly fond of a certain kind of wine. Once Nina was walking around with it, her werewolf kept following her in her cage. It was never opened for her to scent it so that was quite strange."

Kaufer stroked his stubble as he thought about something, "Why don't you try calling his name? He might remember that."

L glanced at the angry werewolf growling at him in the cage, then turned back to the researcher with a skeptical look on his face.

He shrugged, "It won't hurt, probably."

The detective sighed, then turned back to the cage.

"Light-kun?"

The werewolf stopped growling suddenly. It tilted its head, staring intently at his face.

"Light-kun," L tried again, feeling unnerved when all the werewolf's attention is now trained on him.

He twitched when he heard a deep, answering rumble but the beast isn't growling at him anymore, just staring at him silently.

"Cupcakes," L said.

There was a sharp growl as the werewolf snapped at him, making L's toes twitch at the suddenness of it. That was all it did, as it continued to stare at him silently.

"He doesn't like cupcakes," Kaufer commented seriously.

"Pity," L said, suddenly craving one.

"He seems to be fine with you, though," Kaufer said, "Being in his constant presence while he is in this state might have helped."

"They remember people as well?" L asked.

"Supposedly," Kaufer said. "Although they might still remain aggressive, that's due to the various changes in their hormones when switching through their states. That's especially drastic in these early stages. So right now, Nina is making him a mood stabilizer to help with that. If all goes well, he might try to attack us less."

L turned to look at her, where the scientist ignored them all and continued to work on the mixture, taking a bit of it now and then and peering at the drop through the fairly large microscope.

"When Mikhailov first saw him, he seems fascinated about his size," L mentioned, "He said you would be able to tell me more about it."

"Ah," Kaufer tapped the pencil against his lip, "He is quite large, compared to the other werewolves we have in our facility. I suppose it had to do with their ranks. Wolves typically have a certain hierarchy in their packs, the bigger and stronger they are, the more likely that they're the alphas. Those are made to lead and fight, they tend to be more intelligent as well. That seems to be the difference between him and the other werewolves."

"You think he could be different from them?"

"That I'm not too sure about," Kaufer said, now biting on the end of his pencil. He seemed to realize that he had put that into his mouth and plucked it out, clearing his throat. "The number of werewolves out there are scarce, such that the stories associated with them are myths. Their genes would more than likely diminish through family lines with time as well, so there isn't much for us to study. So I can't say much about that."

L absorbed that fact, before asking, "Mikhailov said that in his current emotional state, there is a danger for him to turn permanently. Is that true?"

Kaufer nodded, "Such things have happened before to some of them. One day, they just stopped turning back into people, they never turn back. We could only link the cause to deteriorating psychological well being. If Mikhailov had said that, then it is quite worrying."

"Do you think you could help him?"

"Me?" Kaufer chuckled lightly, "Sorry, I'm just a researcher, I don't know how to help with this. But perhaps you could find a way, you know him, right? Or you can find him a counselor who could help with that, or someone close to him."

"You're saying that as long as he is emotionally well, he could avoid a permanent transformation?"

"Possibly," he said, "I can't say for certain, psychological matters delude me. Mikhailov would know better, but…"

"But?"

Krupin stopped her work momentarily and looked over.

"It's nothing," Kaufer said, shaking his head, "Just… we have worked together for a while under him now and there's something strange about him. Something off. I don't know what it's about, but I don't think any of us are keen to find out."

The chemist glanced at the door briefly and returned to her work.

"Don't tell him that I said that," he added, then returned to his notepad as if he had not spoken.

L turned back to the cage in silence, watching the werewolf who sat watching him, his eyes bright as if he had listened and understood all that they have said.

The detective stared back at it, willing the werewolf to give an indication that it did.

He was mildly disappointed when it huffed and turned away from the bars to shake itself off, before sniffing about its new home curiously.

L sighed and asked Watari to bring down the last slice of the apple pie, the crust slightly stale and the fillings a bit mushed. Other people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference but the detective tend to be sensitive to the varying states of his food after all.

But an apple pie is still an apple pie and L would gladly savor it regardless.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, this has been reposted, because:
> 
> 1\. Somehow, the formatting for this chapter had disappeared between documents, so words that should be in italics was not in italics, that was annoying.
> 
> 2\. I missed one of my personal dividers when I read this through because I had nothing to do. Imagine my horror when I was mindlessly scrolling through and suddenly: BANANAS.
> 
> Sigh, amateur mistakes. I wonder if I should blame my internet for being down and I'm doing all these at a fast food restaurant. Why is it so damn busy even at 11pm sobs. I'm too lazy to go anywhere else though, because this is quite near to my house lol.


	7. Night 7

_Light sat on the cot as L let Mikhailov in for his physical examination._

_The room outside the cell was dim, just the way both he and L liked it, before the scientist had come along and need the lights on for his work. For a moment he couldn't discern why Mikhailov would let L dim the lights but dismissed that since the scientist wasn't working out there for the moment, as he approached with his gloved hands that made Light cringe at the unpleasant rubbery feel of it._

_L was watching outside, also making him uncomfortable._

_The dark eyes were pried away, when the researcher was measuring his blood pressure as the laptop beeped. L spoke in a lower voice than usual, in order to keep his and the Task Force's identities a secret. Light couldn't hear much more than a low mumble outside his room._

_As Mikhailov moved on to his eyes, L announced that he had something to take care of and that he will be back as soon as he is done. Light thought he saw L leave through the door into a corridor much darker than their room. He blinked as L was swallowed up by the darkness, thinking that it should not be possible that the corridor looked this dark. He thought it might be because of a power outage or something in the hallway, perhaps that was why L had left so abruptly. Light was distracted from his thoughts, as Mikhailov's cold hands slid over his bare skin._

" _I would need a blood sample," Mikhailov said mechanically, unlike the affable impression that he had made on Light. "If you would, please."_

_Light placed an arm on the wheeled table that he had brought in, where he applied a tourniquet and searched for a vein._

" _A pity…"_

_Light glanced at him at the dully uttered words, unnerved when he found Mikhailov standing much closer than he had thought, such that the scientist's breaths fanned over his cheek._

" _What do you mean?"_

" _I have seen through your records, Mr. Asahi," he said, "You were working for L, as well right? So much potential…"_

_It was said with a tone full of disinterest, unlike the usual demeanor of the Russian, which confused Light a little._

_Something nagged at him in the back of his head, trying to remind him of something – something important that he had forgotten._

" _So much lost potential," he spoke by his ear now, Light hadn't noticed him move closer. "Lost to the curse of a monster."_

_His blood ran cold._

_A monster, that's what you are, a beast sick and hungering for flesh for eternity. No goals, no achievements to speak of. Uncontrollable. Mindless. Violent. Manic. Flesh. Blood. Insane. Mad. Mad. Mad._

_Light brought both hands up to cover his ears, away from the whispers the scientist relentlessly uttered in them._

_Monster._

_Monster._

" _I'm not a monster!"_

_Monster!_

" _I'm not!"_

" _ **MONSTER**_ _!" It screamed in his father's voice._

_He screamed._

* * *

 

Light gasped as he woke in the darkness of his cell, his arms clutched tightly around his naked body as he shivered.

He glanced over at the room, now dimmed as the researchers are not there. The clock on the wall showed that it is four in the morning, it should still be dark outside.

_It should, shouldn't it?_

Light found that the terrors of his nightmare remained such that he wasn't able to think clearly.

He looked over the room and found the detective in his usual spot, crouched upon his chair. What was different was that he seemed to be asleep, his arms wrapped around his folded legs and face buried in his knees. Light couldn't understand how someone could sleep like that.

He got to his feet and headed for the bathroom, intending to get a long, hot bath to clear his mind somewhat before he brave the realm of thoughts and puzzles again.

* * *

03:17

When Light was asleep, L finally found an opportunity to examine the footage from his physical exam. Kaufer and Krupin had been done for the night and left for their rooms. Mikhailov had been absent for the most part as he mentioned he had to look over something and would rather concentrate on it alone.

L left him to that, there isn't much that he wants him to do, anyway.

He munched down upon gummy bears as he stared at the screen intently, as Mikhailov checked and noted down Light's physical information on his clipboard, no doubt to be filed later with the rest of his records.

L had a mind to tell him to keep these information confidential, as Light is considered one of L's employees after all.

There wasn't much to see from the video, other than the fact that Mikhailov had stood rather close to the teen from time to time but that was when he had to check his eyes or take a cell sample, things like that.

What was strange was that Light's expression changed minutely when that happened and then morphed into a blank mask immediately after. L wasn't able to capture what they are and watched those few minutes again and again.

He concluded that it was an expression with a mixture of pain, sadness and horror.

Mikhailov must've said something to him, but the bugs in the room had not been able to pick his words up because he had been too soft. Perhaps that was done on purpose as well.

He had to keep an eye on that researcher, Kaufer was right. There was just something off about that man. However, L won't be able to do much unless he finds out what is up with him. Light still needs him with his condition, until L was able to find someone else.

The detective decided he should do that soon.

Before something happens to him.

* * *

 10:32

"In this container is the mood stabilizer that I have made based on his gene and blood composition," Krupin said, placing a bottle on the table.

L leaned forward to peer at it, finding that it was no larger than the average human thumb. The liquid within it is milky, the glass bottle kept tightly sealed with a white cap.

"There is very little of it," he observed.

"I only made enough for three doses at least," Krupin said, indignation caught in the undercurrent of her tone, "This is only the prototype, I have to observe how Mr. Asahi will react to it so I can perfect it. "

L picked up the bottle by his finger and thumb, putting it to the light to study it while Krupin began to glare at him, "Careful!"

He ignored her and turned to Light who was looking at it from the cell, "What do you think, Light-kun?"

Light started to wring his hands in agitation, realized what he was doing and clasped them together tightly. L didn't miss that.

"I do hope it works," he uttered solemnly, "That'll be the best for everyone."

Krupin snatched the bottle from L's hands, huffing at him, "I'll administer it at 5pm this evening, each dose typically lasts for 12 hours before it gets broken down and filtered out of the blood stream."

"How long will I be on this for?" Light questioned, not liking the idea of seeming like a mental patient, having to rely on mood stabilizers because he apparently can't bring the beast under control.

"Until the initial period of transformation is over," Kaufer said as he flipped idly through his notebook, "My estimation for that is about a month, so Mr. Asahi have about 23 days left before the changes stabilize and the werewolf start become less aggressive."

"As Rafael had said," Krupin added, "When that happens, I would need to run more blood tests to see how it would proceed."

Light nodded silently, his eyes dazed as he retreated from the conversation.

L stared at him, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"Light-kun is afraid," he observed.

The brunette's gaze sharpened as he snaps, "I'm not."

"Light-kun needn't be," L said, ignoring his words, "I'll see this through to the very end."

Light glared at him, then glanced at the three researchers in worry of their reaction at L's stupid statement.

There was nothing from them, however. It was like what L said had not even happened.

The teen glowered at L once more, "Piss off." He turned away to regard the wall, pointedly ignoring the dark-haired detective once again.

L let out a soft sigh that is barely perceptible and returned to his desk, nibbling unhappily on his thumb. As he did that, Krupin raised her head to glance over at him, her cold blue eyes bright with understanding and… something else.

* * *

 18:15

Soichiro stared blankly at the cup of coffee left on his desk.

" _Werewolfism, Yagami-san, that is what Light had been afflicted with."_

He sighed, running a hand over his face as the fact continued to sink in. He had believed that Light had been cleared of that curse, he didn't expect…

His only son…

The memory of the creature that was his grandfather is still fresh in his mind, he could still remember the damp smell of the basement, the low growls that were directed at him, the bright eyes. Especially the fear that plagued him as he fled away from the house, thinking about the wedding ring that his widowed grandfather wore on his hand, wishing that what he saw was not real.

That was the last he saw of his grandfather.

However, what struck him even more now was that, thinking back to it, the slumped posture that Light sat in before he left was an even more prominent memory.

The more he thought about it, the more worry had begun to overrode the fear he had regarding werewolves.

He had discovered from the man he saw, the one that dropped his access card, that Light may be turning permanently. He was simply going for a cup of coffee when he saw him. The man probably didn't know that he and Light were related, because his demeanor didn't seem to be one of pity but one of attempting to instill fear in him.

Unexpectedly, that only made him worry about Light more than adding onto that existing fear. It only quelled it for Soichiro to clearly realize something.

He didn't want this to be the last time he saw Light.

Soichiro sat wringing his hands, the two emotions in him warring over each other.

Finally, with his mind made up, he stood and grabbed the card that had been left for him on the table.

* * *

 18:18

"How does Light-kun feel?"

Light glared at the detective, getting more irritated by the second, "Are you going to ask me that damn question every ten minutes?"

"Seeing from Light-kun's ill temper, the serum doesn't seem to have worked," L said in mock concern as he licked chocolate sauce off his fingers.

"Shut up," he growled, his disgust apparent as he glowered at the tub of chocolate fudge that L is eating out of. "It won't matter if it worked or not, you'll still manage to annoy the hell out of me anyway."

"Hm."

Krupin rolled her eyes at their exchange as she went through some papers, while Kaufer didn't seem to hear them as he compared his notes. Mikhailov was once again, missing from the room, having excused himself to take a bathroom break.

A phone suddenly rang, it was Krupin's. She checked her cell, then left to take the call without a word.

Kaufer had glanced up then, watching the other researcher leave the room with apparent interest.

"What time is the moon peak tonight?" L asked him, causing him to jump a little. The researcher flipped through some documents left on the desk and read out the recorded time for this night.

"Ten-fifty," he said.

"We have time," L said, turning to Light, "Why not a game?"

Light stared at him as if wondering whether it is beneficial to his health to go with his suggestion. Before he could answer, there was a sound of the air-conditioner dying, then they were plunged into complete darkness.

"What happened?" His voice came out a little louder than he meant for it to.

A square of light appeared in the dark, seeming too bright than it usually appeared to be. It was from Kaufer's phone and Light could faintly see his nervous face from his cell.

"There seemed to be a power outage," L said, his badly illuminated form standing nearby, staring at the ceiling as he nibbled on his thumb, "It should be back up in about five minutes."

Five minutes passed and nothing had happened, they still remained in complete darkness save for the light from Kaufer's phone.

"Maybe you should go check on it?" Light suggested, looking over.

L had switched to biting on his nail, Light noticed a difference from the usual and was curious about that. It was an actual nervous gesture by the detective, as he worried that something may have happened to Watari.

"Perhaps I should," he said in a bored tone as usual, before hopping off his chair and leaving the room.

Meanwhile, Kaufer seemed more and more agitated by the second, glancing over at the door now and then, and seemed to be disappointed when he saw nothing.

"My apologies, Mr. Asahi," he said, "I will have to leave the room for a short while." He looked around for anything that could still emit light and was disappointed when he came up short.

"It's fine," Light said, "Go ahead, a few minutes in the dark won't kill me."

"Thank you," he bowed, the dim light barely showing his face of gratitude before he too, left the room.

Light sighed as he was left alone in the dark room, waiting for the electricity to come back on.

* * *

 19:32

Soichiro's heart almost stopped when the elevator jerked back to life, the lights flickering as the electricity came back on. He breathed a sigh of relief as it continued to descend towards his destination.

Soon, he reached the floor that Light was kept in, making his way towards the room.

When he opened the door, he didn't expect what he would see.

The room was in a state of disarray, the tables overturned and papers strewn all across the floor. Pieces of broken glass can be seen where the lab equipment are, puddles of unknown chemicals pooling and bleeding into each other. A couple pieces of paper could be seen floating in them, turned a ghastly shade of blue and green. Nearby is a thick brown puddle of chocolate, still oozing from the overturned tub.

A brown werewolf was growling at nothing in the middle of the room while it licked at the chocolate puddle, the cell door had been left wide open with a broken lock. Its golden eyes locked onto him as soon as the door was opened, its lips began to curl back in a snarl.

It charged at him as Soichiro scrambled to shut the door.

He screamed as it bit into his shoulder, tearing flesh and growling as it pulled, claws raking across his side.

It let go when he aimed a desperate punch on its nose, the door slamming shut.

Soichiro fell to the floor, clutching his torn and bleeding shoulder as banging noises were heard from the door.

The last thing he was aware of are people rushing towards him from the other direction, shouting indiscernible words, one of them had no shoes on.

Then, he knew no more as all turned into darkness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Randomly trying out a new format. So, yeah, Light is gone. Or is it?
> 
> In other news, I should be back to the writing soon, in about 5 days or so. I might go overseas for a while, though. Hopefully I might be able to update still, or expect to see a whole bunch of updates at once by mid-December. 
> 
> ... This is the most lethargic sounding author's notes ever XD. Oops.


	8. Night 8

L sat at his desk in the workroom, staring at the werewolf that is currently loose in the basement room, wrecking havoc upon the overturned furniture and his stash of snacks, growling and snapping even when there was nothing else in the room with him.

It was already seven in the morning, the sun had risen an hour ago and yet, Light had not turned back. L was hoping for it, he had waited ever since he had discovered the situation last night.

To his dismay, the beast showed no signs of disappearing.

"How is Yagami Soichiro?" He asked Watari who stood behind him, his eyes never once leaving the werewolf on the screen.

"His condition has stabilized," Watari said, "He has not woken up yet due to the painkillers still in his system."

The werewolf let out a roar and charged at the door that was tightly shut, stumbling back and shaking its head, then snarling at it again.

If L were to say anything, it was that the werewolf seemed to be in a state of confusion.

It growled at the door and stalked into the middle of the room, knocking aside the fallen chair in its path. It staggered, startled at the object, before sniffing at it. It was the chair that L usually sat in. The detective watched as the werewolf let out a curious whine at the thing.

Its demeanor changed entirely in the next moment, as it proceeded to growl and chewed it up.

"Do you have an idea of what had occurred last evening?"

The elderly man seemed to be in shame as he shook his head, "Other than the obvious sabotage of our system, no."

The detective made no reply.

He still remembered last night when he had left the room to check on Watari, when he was supposed to have restored the fault in less than five minutes as his capabilities enables him to. It wasn't simply an electrical outage, the whole system was down, even the emergency elevator that was supposed to be working as a back-up was dead.

That made L climb fifteen flights of stairs to get to the security room where his helper usually stays unless he is needed for other tasks. It was worrying when Watari was unable to reboot the system after so long.

As it turns out, his caretaker had been trapped in the bathroom when his dinner didn't agree with him.

The detective found a virus and had to run a couple of programs to get rid of it before he could turn the whole thing back on. It was puzzling on how the bug had gotten in and he drew a couple of conclusions.

One, someone on the outside had managed to hack into the building and caused the shutdown.

However, that is not very likely as L designed this building to have an isolated grid, it is impossible for anyone to access it from the outside, unless their skills are on par with one of his successor, Matt.

That means it had to come from the inside, he knew none of the Task Force members have the motive nor the capabilities to do such a thing.

So it had to be one of the three people that he had hired, or more.

Light began to sniff at the cookies that had been scattered in his rampage earlier, his tail twitching from side to side. L watched the screen in displeasure as he witnessed his cookies being eaten up, the high-quality cameras showing the crumbs falling from the werewolf's jaws.

And he thought that Light hated snacks like these.

"And the scientists?"

"They're in the holding room," Watari said, "I take it that you want to question them."

"Certainly," L said, standing up, "Oh, and get some ice-cream for me, cookies and cream please, I'm feeling quite peckish."

"Of course."

* * *

L entered the holding room that the three researchers are seated in. It was a room that closely resembled the interrogation rooms that they usually had in police stations. It was bare, with plain, gray walls and nothing but a white table and four chairs in the middle, three of which had occupants in them.

The detective did a scan of the three, noting their expressions and behaviors.

Kaufer is seated on the right, his eyes were slightly wider than usual due to anxiety. When L had opened the door, they flickered to him immediately. L noticed an unconscious gulp by the former wildlife biologist, before he looked away almost guiltily. The researcher held himself ramrod straight in the chair, one of his hands gripping onto the table leg.

Krupin and Mikhailov on the other hand, didn't seem as anxious.

The female researcher is seated in the middle, both her arms and legs were crossed while she scowled at him, no doubt annoyed at being treated this way. One of her fingers were tapping on her forearm, showing her impatience. L isn't a stranger to body language, the crossing of the arms and legs are an indication of defense. He would have to find out what that was about.

Out of the three, Mikhailov looked the most at ease about their situation. He was leaning back in the chair, his hands in his lap and his feet were resting fully on the floor, an easy smile on his face. The only things that were off in his appearance is the pair of cold eyes as he watched the detective, as well as the occasional tapping of one of his foot.

"I believe we are all clear on what this is about," L said, as he walked towards the table and fixed upon them the blankest and creepiest stare he could muster.

Kaufer let out a small hiccup. This made his companion elbow him in the side as she glared at him.

Mikhailov simply chuckled, "Come on Mr. Rue, we are all civilized people here. There is no need to take things this far."

"There had been a electrical failure yesterday," L growled, "This is L's building, something like this does not happen without reason. Especially, when I fixed it last night, I found that the system was hacked and that it was most likely a inside job."

He glared at the three, "This brings me to the conclusion that one of you did it."

Mikhailov laughed, "But Mr. Rue, we are scientists, not programmers. We won't know how to do that."

"A man who is well-versed in one field has the ability to be proficient in everything else," L said, "Your argument is invalid, Dr. Mikhailov."

He responded with a shrug, "I guess so."

"Also, it does not struck me as a coincidence that Light-kun turned the very day that the power went off."

"It could very well be," Mikhailov said, his cheerful demeanor gone, "There is no way you can control when the curse will take over."

L did not acknowledge that as he continued, "I will interrogate the three of you separately, don't expect to get off lightly when I find out who the culprit is."

* * *

The raven-haired man sat in a crouch before the monitors, nibbling on a donut. On the screens are the researchers, sat in three separate rooms.

It had been six hours since he started questioning them and he had yet to come closer to the culprit's identity.

When he questioned them on where they were during the blackout, Krupin said that she was on the roof, speaking on her phone. Kaufer said that he had went to look for her on another floor, while Mikhailov said that he was trapped in the elevator when the blackout happened.

When interrogated further, Krupin said that her ex had called her and they had an argument on the phone, that was why she had taken so long, while Kaufer said that he was worried about her because Krupin is apparently afraid of the dark.

He told the detective to not let her know about this, that he had told L something so sensitive and not to let her know that the researcher knew.

Of course, L ignored that and asked her to confirm the validity of his statement.

He'd gotten that and it looked like she was going to give the man an earful when she sees him later.

As for Mikhailov, he said he was coming back from the bathroom on the other floor when he was trapped.

So far, there were no loopholes in what they had said, and since the cameras were down as well, so he can't check those against their statements.

The only interesting thing that he had gotten out of it was one of the things Krupin had mentioned.

He had asked, "I have a question about the mood stabilizer, you said they were your creations."

Krupin sat calmly in her chair, half-glaring at him as she answered, "Yes."

"Do they work?"

She glared at him then, uttering with indignation, "No, most of the time, no."

That made him a little irritated, "What happens, then?"

"They turn, permanently," Krupin said, "That is what happened to most of those who had received the treatment."

L was livid then.

"You administered that to Light-kun with that knowledge?"

"No, I didn't."

That surprised him a little and his anger faltered, "What do you mean you didn't?"

"Mr. Asahi didn't receive the serum," Krupin said, tapping on the table with a nail, "What I gave him was actually a placebo."

"And what was that for, exactly?"

"To prove that it wasn't the mood stabilizers that were causing the change," Krupin answered, "It was something else."

L was skeptical of what she had claimed but noted that down regardless.

"You can examine the contents of the serum if you want to," she added, "I'm sure you can figure out if it reacts to his blood or not."

"And what is that something else that you are talking about?"

"It's Mikhailov's claim, that their psychological health deteriorates to the point that they change permanently," she said, as he expected.

"You said claim," L noticed.

"Because I think it's not true," Krupin said, "Mr. Asahi had turned last night and I presume that he hadn't changed back. If that's the case, it meant that his emotional health had degraded completely. I'm no psychologist but I don't think he is that depressed yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I have seen the way you two interact, Mr. Rue," she said, her eyes glittering as she emphasized the next few words, "He finds comfort in you."

L was puzzled, evident in the way that he blurted, "What?"

"If he finds comfort in you, there is no way that his emotional health had passed the point of no return, he still has you as an anchor, his emotional support. You were willing to be one, too."

The detective eyed her suspiciously, "I am under the impression that he hates me."

That made the researcher smile in amusement, "Trust me, I know too well. I am the same as him after all."

Before L could inquire more, she interrupted, "That's it, I'm done. I have nothing more to say."

"And who is the one that you find as an emotional support?" L asked.

Krupin glared at him, "I said I am done, Mr. Rue."

"Is it Dr. Kaufer?"

That caused her to turn red in the face, before she shrieked, " _No_! Get out!"

"Alright, fine, fine," L muttered, retreating immediately.

At least that proves that she wasn't lying, she was similar to Light in a way.

His eyes flickered over to the screens, where Mikhailov sat calmly in the room, smiling to himself. If what Krupin had suggested is true, then there is something else going on here.

L switched his focus onto Light when a growl came from the camera. The werewolf had now retreated into the cell room, huddled up against the corner as it glared at the bars, panting from a whole day of exertion. It was the only time that the detective saw it stop destroying the room in its rage.

"L."

He turned, setting his eyes on Watari who had entered with a grim expression on his face.

"What is it, Watari?"

The detective had missed the werewolf suddenly snarling at one of its front paw and beginning to gnaw on one of the appendages.

"It's Mr. Yagami."

A low whine came from the monitor, the werewolf stated prowling about the cell again.

"He isn't waking up."


	9. Night 9

"This shouldn't have happened."

The three former police officers stood in the infirmary room, their faces grim. Soichiro was lying on one of the beds, hooked up to machines and bags of fluids by his bed, a saline drip and the other is for painkillers, one for each arm. The man's face was pale, an oxygen cannula fixed onto his face to aid his breathing. A low, steady beeping was emitted from the heart monitor nearby.

Aizawa was the one who have spoken, standing by the bed with a stricken look on his face, his hands clenched into fists by his sides as he looked into the face of his former superior. The youngest officer, Matsuda was seated on a chair by the door, his lowered face hidden by his hands. Mogi stood a little further off, staring sadly at the scene.

For this was a man who had led them in the past, and they have respected him greatly for his morals and valiance. Now he lay sick and injured, unable to wake.

They knew what was the cause, the lack of blood flow to the brain had caused it to shut down. They also knew how it had happened, L had Watari tell them.

"This should not have happened," Aizawa muttered again, "Chief…"

"What are we going to do?" Matsuda asked, his voice soft as he lowered his hand, his eyes were brimming with unshed tears. It was hard to say which man is the most loyal between him and Aizawa, but his devotion to Soichiro was the most clear out of everyone else.

"There's nothing we can do," Mogi uttered, "We can only pray and hope for the best. Watari did said that this condition may not be permanent."

"And what happens if he never wakes up!" Aizawa shouted, glaring at him.

The large man lowered his head in silence.

Aizawa growled and whipped his head back to look upon his leader whose face looked deathly pale. If it wasn't for the heart monitor, he might have thought he was dead. He thought about what had been told to them and the minute passed without no words spoken between the three of them.

"No, there's something we can do," he said, his eyes clearing up as he found the answer, "We should get rid of it."

"Aizawa-san?" Matsuda stared at him quizzically.

"It's its fault, the werewolf," he stated to himself, "It's the reason why the chief is lying here now."

He turned to leave, as Matsuda gaped at him, "But-"

Mogi's arm shot up to block his path and Aizawa turned to glare at him, "Stop, this isn't its fault."

"It's the one who mauled him and left him in this state!"

"But-"

"Get out of my way, Mogi," Aizawa growled at him, his eyes harsh.

The large man wavered and turned to the bachelor, looking for support, "Matsuda?"

The younger man avoided his eyes, "I-I don't know… What he said wasn't wrong…"

"Mogi."

Mogi moved aside, allowing Aizawa to brush pass him.

"I'm sorry…" Matsuda muttered, looking away.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair.

It wasn't that he was a coward but he just knew, once Aizawa sets his mind on something, there's no stopping him. There's only hope that he might listen to L, if he does.

* * *

At the same moment, the detective was seated in Kaufer's room, dedicating his time to interrogate him once again. He'd spent about seven hours here now, his usual habit paying off as it allowed him to stay alert and resolute in his task.

"Tell me again, Dr. Kaufer," L said, popping some raspberries into his mouth as he stared the other man down, "Where were you when the power went out?"

"I-I was on the fourth floor," the timid researcher uttered, exhausted as he was not allowed to sleep in the past night, "I was looking for Ni- Krupin."

"And why were you looking for her?"

"I was worried about her," he said, looking edgy.

"Did you see anything while you were looking for her?"

He averted his eyes, "N-no."

L stared at him, causing the young researcher to shiver, "Are you speaking the truth?"

"Yes…"

"Then why're you so nervous?"

Kaufer was silent for a moment, as L asked again, "Dr. Kaufer-"

That was when the door flew open with a bang, revealing a angry Aizawa as he shouted, "Ryuuzaki!"

At that, the scientist yelped, cowering in his seat, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  _I lied_!"

L signaled the officer to stay silent as Kaufer blurted quickly, "I was on the fourth floor, looking for Nina and I-I saw Dr. Mikhailov. H-He told me not to let anyone know that I saw him or, or there'll be consequences! P-Please don't-"

L's eyes hardened, "You saw Mikhailov?"

"Y-yes…"

"What was he doing?"

Kaufer peeked at L with a terrified blue eye, "H-He was coming down from the upper floors, I saw him in the stairway…"

L was silent as he regarded the man, then said, "We're done for today."

He turned to face Aizawa, looking slightly displeased, "I will speak to you outside."

* * *

"You can't let that monster stay here!" Aizawa shouted, once they were in a hallway that is out of earshot of the interrogation room.

"Light-kun is not a monster," L said blandly, turning to face him.

Aizawa glared at him, "In any case, he can't stay here, he's a danger to everyone!"

Before the detective could say a word, he interrupted angrily, "It'd already bitten Yagami-san, if he stays, he might end up biting someone else!"

"Then he shall remain locked up, if that is what you are worried about," he said, "I'm not going to send Light-kun away."

"But L!"

L fixed him a deadpan stare, "I thought I told you to call me 'Ryuuzaki'. Besides, from what I have heard from the researchers, there is something strange going on around here. I can't send him away until I find out what."

"Well, why don't you check your hi-tech camera system to see who was the culprit?"

L sighed, scratching the back of his neck as he muttered, "I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" The man demanded.

"The recorded files have been deleted from the system, completely." L explained, "This is why I'm wasting time to investigate these three scientists. In the meantime, Watari is working to recover the lost files, until then, I will have to find who did this, manually."

"Why can't you just send the werewolf away?"

"I cannot do that," L said to the man in the most patient tone anyone has ever heard, "I have suspicions that something may have happened to Light-kun while the lights were out. You hadn't seen it but he is behaving unusually ever since the blackout."

Aizawa looked exasperated but seemed to calm down slightly as he asked, "What is your plan?"

"Gather the others," L said, nibbling on his thumb, "I will brief you all in the workroom."

* * *

Matsuda glanced left and right, wringing his hands in the silence of the workroom as he nervously wondered whether this was the end of the line. Had Aizawa pissed L off so much he's just going to fire the lot of them? What the officer did couldn't be right, but his concern was their safety, as well as his. If even L's building had been compromised by someone who's not Kira, it probably won't be hard for the greatest murderer himself to break in and kill them all.

Mogi patted him on the shoulder and he yelped, jumping about a foot in the air.

Everyone else turned to stare at him, while the large man slowly retracted his hand.

"Uh, sorry?" He uttered sheepishly, doing a mental facepalm to himself.

L ignored that and said, "Since you all probably are aware of the situation, I'll keep it short. As Aizawa-san here kindly came to me and asked, I will tell you what I am planning to do from now on."

"About the Kira Case, I ask that you all shall keep working on it, we cannot keep the case delayed any longer. Until I call for you, you shall continue to work on the case," they nodded, while Matsuda mostly looked relieved.

"As for Light-kun, I will continue to lock him within the room. A few days without food and water will weaken him, as well as his constant rampaging," L said, "When that happens, I will ask you to go to the room equipped with dart guns. Do not use actual firearm on him."

While L mentioned that, he looked pointedly at Aizawa, who turned away from him irritably.

"We will sedate him and move him into a cage I asked Watari to prepare, that will reduce harm that will be done to him as well as us and I will ask the researchers to look at him again."

Matsuda raised his hand.

L stared at him, "What?"

"Uh, I thought the researchers were not trustworthy?"

"Even if they aren't, they're the only ones we can rely on for now," L said boredly, "I'm not going to bring in a new set of scientists just to let the same things happen again. They will be kept under constant watch and for now, I will continue to investigate this situation."

"Well, investigate it faster."

L glared at Aizawa, "Perhaps you would like to aid in my investigation."

Mogi laughed nervously as he stood between the two, "Sorry, Ryuuzaki, don't mind him, he's just a little stressed about this."

The detective stared at the man, considering, "Why don't you all return to work? Watari will contact me if you have found anything."

"Roger that," Mogi said and started carting the other two back to their desk before anyone says anything else.

L sighed and walked towards the pantry for something sweet to chew on. He found a pack of chewing gum, strawberry-flavored. He unwrapped all five strips and popped them in his mouth, causing his cheeks to bulge out from the size of five gums combined.

Next, he will have to talk to Mikhailov, especially about what Kaufer had said.

Hopefully, he might uncover something soon and he would discover the truth of why Light had turned suddenly.

Currently, everything had pointed to Mikhailov as the guilty party, Krupin had said so and Kaufer had said so. But things may not be as simple as that.

Only time will tell.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Tis was a little thing I wanted to talk about a long time ago, but forget about it (oops). It wasn't anything huge, just about the title of this fic. Ya see, after I did a little snooping around after I posted this thing, I realized there's another fic of the same nature under the same name.
> 
> I think it was by reaperlight, the only difference was that in their title 'MoonLight', the 'L' is capitalized, a very clear sign of a pun. It was posted some time before this came out.
> 
> So, uh, awkward? XD


	10. Night 10

The werewolf roamed about in the wreckage of the workroom, wandering aimlessly in the painfully bright space.

The werewolf had investigated everything within it, consumed the stash of food it'd found and chewed on most of the furniture. Now it prowled, agitated, growling at every shadow that lurks in hidden corners, snapping at the hunger gnawing at its stomach.

The scent of food still lingers within this room even when they were all gone. It was horribly sweet and didn't quite fill its stomach. What was worse than that was that there was no water to be found.

Rage pounded in its head and it snapped at the wheels on an overturn chair. Seconds later, it stumbled as if coming off of a high and fell to the ground in a heap, growling at its own weakness.

The scent of that man lingers.

The werewolf whined softly as the smell unexpectedly reminded it of something else other than food or hostility. It can't remember what it was called but the feeling brought a fleeting comfort within the confined space, trapped with nowhere else to go.

The flash of rage returned and everything else fled its mind.

The werewolf struggled to its feet, snarling at nothing in particular, sides heaving as it stared at the air. It was gone as suddenly as it came. The werewolf whined in confusion and trotted over to the closed door, where another man had shut it before. The taste of blood had already disappeared and it felt a pang of hunger at that thought.

It sniffed at the door for the hundredth time, trying to figure a way out.

That was forgotten as rage pulsed again and it snarled, lips curling back as it bared its fangs.

The werewolf slammed into the door with unbridled fury, feeling the metal budge under its weight. It kept rushing at it, again and again, until the rage dwindled and exhaustion took its place.

It stumbled and fell, glaring at the obstacle in its way.

A growl rumbled in its throat, as it dragged itself back to its feet and staggered back into the room in search of sustenance.

If it can't, there a good chance that it will die right in this room.

The werewolf wanted to simply curl up and sleep right in the middle of the floor. But no, it can't, it won't die from the lack of food just like that, caged in a room like a lowly creature.

Somehow, it remembers that there's someone watching this room all the time.

It paused, beginning to figure something out.

* * *

"Where were you on the night of the blackout?"

The raven-haired detective was once again questioning Mikhailov's, following Kaufer's interrogation from earlier. He stared the researcher down, munching calmly on chocolate-laden éclairs and sipping his sugary tea.

Mikhailov looked back at him calmly, just slightly more haggard than usual from the prolonged confinement. He shrugged and said, "Haven't I told you, detective? I was trapped in the elevator on that night while I was returning from a bathroom break."

L studied him for a long moment, noting the posture and actions Mikhailov had while he answered the question.

He got nothing.

The scientist was impossibly calm, his posture remained open and relaxed, his eyes did not stray from the detective's face, there was an absence of fidgeting that bordered on being unnatural. His pale eyes stared at L, gaze steely like stone, unmovable and unshakable.

The detective was immediately reminded of Light, the way the teen was as unflinching even under the surveillance of L's cameras.

A flash of memory came to him, where to most people, Light had seemed like normal teenager, dutifully studying his materials a few days before a test.

L knew better.

Light had been too normal that time, not once did his attention stray away from his studies, his action of eating potato chips too methodical and strangely focused. It was a dead giveaway.

' _Light is Kira.'_

L's stare faltered and Mikhailov's lips curled into a smile.

"Why keep asking that question, detective?" The scientist mentioned, "Did someone tell on me?"

The detective tilted his head, "It's peculiar that you pointed this out when I've asked you all the questions multiple times."

Mikhailov chuckled, sat forward and leaned his head on his hand, "That is perhaps something you call, ah, gut feeling."

L looked at him skeptically, his gaze blank to the unobservant.

"I suppose you don't really rely on that, huh," Mikhailov kept smiling, "Deductive reasoning can be quite frustrating to work with sometimes, when you don't have solid prove."

"What is your point?"

"Simple," Mikhailov chucked, leaning back to his original position, "I didn't do it. Maybe you should look closer and perhaps you will find that things are not what they seem."

It sounded more and more like Mikhailov is trying to manipulate him but he can't be sure, not at all. L kept his guard up.

"What do you suggest?"

The researcher adjusted his position on the chair, whether the posture change meant something, he can't pinpoint it just yet.

"Profiles," he said, the vaguely sincere look had never once left his face, "Not everything is listed under our profiles. You're missing the pieces."

"How would you know that, specifically?"

Mikhailov's hesitated, as if reluctant to disclose the information. His eyes took on a form of guilt, before he answered, "Because I know my team members, Mr. Ryuuzaki. Kaufer had always been secretive and jumpy, and Krupin had not always been Krupin."

L processed the information and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I… heard things, while they thought they were both alone," he pressed his lips into a straight line, it was brief and almost entirely undetectable.

The first nervous gesture, L noted but he couldn't tell whether it's done subconsciously or on purpose.

Mikhailov looked like he was about to tell more, when he retreated and muttered, "I can't say anymore."

L felt like strangling the man but he kept still, his face showing nothing as he pressed, "Tell me more about it."

Mikhailov glanced at him, a quick flicker of his eyes, the light in them clear and sharp.

He wringed his hands, hesitated and uttered, "They had been in my team for a while, Krupin joined earlier than Kaufer, she came in a year ago and Kaufer arrived five months later. Both had proved to be valuable assets to my research." Mikhailov looked troubled, "Krupin had always been distant and cold, and she hardly mingled with the rest of the team, including myself. However, with Kaufer, she'd warmed up to him almost immediately. It was really surprising to us and we were glad because she finally made an acquaintance on the team."

He paused and L prompted, "What changed?"

Mikhailov glanced at him, took a breath and said, "I caught them in a conversation. Krupin had wanted his help with something."

L waited, taking a sip of his tea while Mikhailov appear to collect himself.

"She said she hates werewolves."

The detective was intrigued.

"From their conversation, I gathered that she knew Kaufer from somewhere before," he said, "She mentioned that someone she loved had been killed by one of them, she'd joined the team merely to take revenge. She persuaded Kaufer to join her in her revenge."

L nibbled on his thumb, staring at the other who stared back at him.

"There's one thing that I don't get," L mentioned, "You knew she held vengeance for werewolves, yet you allow her to continue working under you."

Mikhailov shuddered visibly.

He wrung his hands and looked straight at L, his green eyes bright and filled with an unnamed emotion as he responded, "Power belongs to the rich and the influential, Mr. Ryuuzaki, and Krupin is both."

"You have been under her thumb all this time?"

Mikhailov looked like he was having second thoughts, eyes flickering over to the camera warily, before he slowly nodded.

L was about to ask more but the other man uttered, "I can't speak anymore. It's risky enough for me as it is."

The detective assessed him, the image of defeat and reluctantly pulled away,

"We will speak more another time," he promised and promptly left the room.

* * *

L made his way back to his office, questions milling in his head about the new information he had gathered.

Krupin had initially implied that Mikhailov had been the one behind Light's turning, while Kaufer said that he saw Mikhailov in a place that was not where the latter claimed he was. Now Mikhailov mentioned a collaboration between the other two, with Krupin as the mastermind who controlled everything else including himself.

Of course, the most suspicious out of them all seemed to be Mikhailov. However, there wasn't anything that he could catch and clearly state it as evidence of his guilt.

L sighed as he entered the room, where Watari sat typing into his computer surrounded by footage from cameras all over the building, still trying to recover the lost files.

"You got all that?"

"Yes."

L nodded, "How's the progress?"

Watari frowned, "It is proving to be difficult for me, whoever did this is at a level that surpassed me and perhaps, you as well."

L glanced at the screen from a camera in the workroom, it showed Light curled up by the door, dozing.

"I have detected no movement from the werewolf over the last two hours," Watari informed.

"I'll watch him," the detective said, "And perhaps, no, we should get Matt to take a look at this."

"That is a prudent approach, for now."

"I am aware of the risks, Watari," L said, "There are lives and careers that are at stake here. I need the issue of the lost files to be resolved fast for a conclusion. I would advise him against being careless."

"Understood. I will contact him immediately."

"Thank you, Watari."

While Watari set out in his task, L started his own, as he pulled out the profiles of the three researchers and as Mikhailov had stated and directed him, L discovered that he'd spoke the truth.

If one had known where to look, they would find that Krupin's information was false.


	11. Night 11

L's eyes scanned over the information, ID copies and the birth certificate that he dug up from the confines of the Russian government database, as well as from more obscure parts of the web where Krupin's previous identity were locked away.

He compiled all the information he had learnt.

Her real name was Milena Pavlovsky, she was from a wealthy family and was orphaned at the age of twelve. Her father, a wildlife biologist, froze and drowned to his death in an accident when he was out on a field study. Later, her mother committed suicide, influenced by heavy drug and alcohol use caused by grief. She had a younger brother who was ten when their mother passed away.

Both of them were placed in the custody of their aunt until Milena aged into an adult and was able to get her brother under her guardianship. They moved out and made use of their family fortune to obtain a property in a region a ways from their former home. Milena made a reputation for herself as a Pavlovsky until her brother was mauled to death by what seemed to be wild animals. The investigation revealed no trace of the creatures that attacked her brother. A few months after his death, Milena Pavlovsky is listed as 'missing'. While that is the case, if Krupin decides to reveal herself as the missing girl, she would regain the status and power that she had.

So far, whatever Mikhailov had said about Krupin held true but it had not brought him any closer to who the actual culprit is. Sure, Krupin may have a motive if she were the one who had done it but he had no concrete prove other than what might be uncovered from the footage that had been lost.

L bit into his thumb, craving for a generous slice of cheesecake but he felt too frustrated to eat.

He glanced at the camera screen and realized that it had been over four hours since the werewolf had passed out after a few days of non-stop rampage.

"Watari, prepare the sedatives," L instructed, "I'll meet with the Taskforce in front of the workroom."

* * *

One of his ears twitched as the sounds of muffled footsteps approached, multiple sets of them, in fact, one of them sounded different from the other four, the sound of skin on cloth, softer and lighter. The werewolf ignored the pulsing heat running through its veins and waited.

Voices rose on the other side of the door, soft and calculated and the werewolf could sort of tell that it belonged to the one who doesn't wear shoes.

It waited, lying as still as he could and eventually, the door hissed open.

Two sets of footsteps approached and it could sense the caution in the air, the slow steps, thundering heartbeats and the barely restrained breaths. The only one who seemed the calmest was the human with no shoes. Then again, he's the one standing the furthest away from the werewolf.

He waited, as the two continued to approach him, he could smell a sort of metal in the air and resisted the urge to growl. He could remember the darts, the humans trying to put him to sleep with them. How he hated them.

He took note of their positions, the one with no shoes is outside the door, and another stood next to him, the old man who shot him the first night. One stood right next to the door, on the opposite side of the old man. Another one who's of a smaller build was blocking the entrance, he could hear his heartbeat going about a hundred a minute and figured that's he's the most timid of them all. The largest one stood a little off to his right, almost close enough to hover over the werewolf.

He quickly formulated a plan; first he'll get the large man, since he's the closest. The smaller one would be easier to startle and him blocking the doorway would prevent him from getting shot when he goes for the large guy. There's a high chance that the timid one would seize up in fear, so whacking him at the man by the door puts them both out of action.

As for the old man, it would be a little tricky. He could sense the old man is quick and well-trained in combat from the way his footsteps had sounded. However, he knew the old man is also afraid of him, a well-placed scare would either go his way or become disastrous. The man with no shoes is unarmed, so it shouldn't be hard to get past him.

The large man took another step towards him.

He tensed.

"Watch out!"

The werewolf lunged at him, slamming the man flat onto the floor, the dart gun clattered out of his hand. Before anyone could react, he rushed for the timid man, who thankfully froze just as he had predicted. The man by the door hesitated, unable to shoot because the smaller man is blocking his view. The werewolf grabbed the timid one who shrieked and threw him at the one by the door. They both fell to the floor before the first guy could even think of struggling to his feet. He swerved to his left as a dart flew by his ear.

The werewolf set his eyes on the old man who he predicted would shoot him while he dealt with the three. He raised his gun again and the werewolf snarled. He tensed, a feint that would be taken as him getting ready to pounce and the old man bought it, shooting over him as he ducked. The beast was upon him and smacked the accursed gun out of his hand. He collapsed, crippled by shock and fear.

"Light!"

His ears twitched and he turned to regard the shoeless man.

The werewolf stilled as he found himself face to face with a black gaze. It growled when it realized the man seemed to be searching for something. He backed away at the sound, his soles brushed across the carpet floor but his heartbeat remained steady, a thing that the werewolf could not fathom.

"Light?"

_Light, Light, Light, who the hell is Light?_

The werewolf stepped towards him, looking for something as well.

_Why does it sound so familiar?_

* * *

L took another step back as the werewolf approached him, golden eyes fixed on his face.

It is not just a mindless beast, he realized. It tricked them into believing that it was out cold, as if it knew what he was waiting for. It had the patience to remain still throughout that time, waited for them to get close and lunged when they least expected it.

He planned the entire course of his attack.

Now he stared at him and the intelligence is apparent in his eyes.

L stopped and he did the same.

A low rumble sounded from his throat and startled L a little. It was the same noise he made when L said his name the first time.

The detective stared into his eyes and was in awe of how bright they were, the ripples of gold and orange bled into each other, reflecting the light in the hallway.

There was a silence where they simply stared at each other, L had no idea how to approach the situation next, nor did he know what to say to break the spell. He would be lying if he said he was entirely fearless as he stared down the werewolf while he seemed to watch him to see what he would do next.

"Light-kun."

Light tilted his head and emitted the same soft growl.

L remained in his spot, his guard up as he continued to watch, debating the best course of action he would have to take.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Aizawa slowly raising his gun.

"Don't!"

It was too late.

L could almost trace the path of the dart as it flew and sunk into the Light's back. The werewolf let out an enraged roar, his pupils narrowed into slits as he turned and glared at the man who shot him.

"Light, stop!" The detective reached for him as he turned.

L managed to latch onto one of his hind legs, the force behind the lunge jolted through him as he collapsed face first onto the ground behind the werewolf.

The werewolf kicked his foot free and turned to snarl at him. L honestly thought he was done for until Light crumpled onto the floor with a huff. That was when he realized that Light might be more debilitated than he had let on.

L sat panting, staring at the werewolf that glared at him bleary-eyed, his limbs a haphazard mess. Slowly, the golden eyes closed and Light finally passed out from the combination of weakness and fatigue, spurred on by the effects of the drug.

Mogi stepped towards him where the others are too shaken to move.

"Ryuuzaki, are you alright?"

"Yes, I am fine," L said with a slight waver in his voice. He got to his feet, "Let's move him into the cage."

While they recover from the unexpected attack and moved him, L stood thinking to himself, his mind going through all that had happened in the past five minutes. From what he had seen, there might be a chance, perhaps the situation isn't as hopeless as he had first thought.

"Ryuuzaki."

L turned, "Yes, Watari?"

"I've just received a message from Matt," he informed, "He managed to recover the footage."


	12. Night 12

On the day of the blackout

5:15pm: The three researchers as well as L and Light are all in the containment room. Krupin had just administered the serum via an injection. She could be seen to observe Light after that, checked his vital signs and asked him questions. L observed the procedure with interest, he mostly stared at Light who hid his discomfort at that.

Behind them, Mikhailov and Kaufer discussed something with each other in hushed tones. Mikhailov showed him a document and gestured to it agitatedly. He left soon after.

At the time, everyone else are still preoccupied with what they were doing. In the meantime, the Russian researcher went to his room and seemed like he was searching for something.

Kaufer looked at the clock and turned to peer at Mikhailov's computer that he'd left running.

He makes his way towards it and looked over at the three nervously. He seemed satisfied when they appear to still take a while more and opened up a few obscure windows on the device. He typed furiously and silently after that, glanced over occasionally at the others and at the door that Mikhailov left through.

At one point, Krupin turned towards him and Kaufer jerked in surprise.

Krupin paused and quickly turned back to Light and L, she began to speak to them at length.

Kaufer continued to work on the computer, checked the time and closed everything that he had opened on it. He returned to his chair and appeared to study his notes at 5:21pm.

Mikhailov returned at 5:23pm with a new file that he said was missing.

Nothing notable happened for the most part of the hour after that.

6:14pm: Mikhailov left the room. He made his way towards the bathroom near the room. He came out at 6:15pm and went towards the elevator, took it up a floor and went to the bathroom there.

6:16pm: Soichiro sat at his desk, he appeared to be in deep thought all day. Here, he seemed to have made up his mind after appearing conflicted for a length of time. Soichiro left the workroom and made his way towards the elevator.

6:17pm: Krupin left the room. She made her way towards the elevator took it as high as it could go and took the stairs to the roof.

6:18pm: Soichiro waited for the elevator impatiently. He entered the empty elevator and took it down.

6:19pm: Mikhailov waited to take the elevator, he appeared to be agitated. He made his way towards the emergency elevator and entered. A few seconds later, the power in the building died.

The footage was blank until the power comes back on at 7:30pm.

7:30pm: The containment room now showed chaos with a werewolf in the middle of it. He appeared to have been turned for a while now, judging from the mess in the room. Krupin was still on the roof, huddled in a corner next to the stairwell. The main elevator opened and Soichiro emerged from it. The emergency elevator opened and Mikhailov emerged from it.

Kaufer was alone in an empty workroom, with a laptop plugged into the system. He appeared to be anxious, he quickly typed something into the laptop and the footage bugged out.

The recording ended at 7:31pm, that was everything on that day that had been erased. The cameras failed to record anything else until L realized and restored them at around half past eight, after he had discovered Soichiro wounded and bleeding and arranged for emergency care.

L rewind the footage and watched it all over again.

But, there was no doubt about it. Rafael Kaufer is now the main suspect behind it, and Krupin did appear to be his accomplice. However, a lot of information was still missing between 6:19pm and 7:30pm. The detective nibbled on his thumb in frustration.

He turned the recording off.

Kaufer was becoming more and more suspicious by the second. Apparently, it turned out that Krupin was not the only one who had something to hide.

When Matt sent him the recovered footage, he had sent L additional information regarding Kaufer that he had found while looking them up. Kaufer hadn't changed his name or anything, unlike Krupin who used to be Milena Pavlovsky. However, there were some missing details from his information, including the one where he was involved in a murder as one of the prime suspects and the one where he was involved in the hacking of the German government's database.

In both, no evidence could be traced to him and he was allowed to go free.

There was no evidence because they were missing, as computer data and as camera recordings.

Matt had done research into the cases and have confirmed that in the one with the murder, it had been in a hotel in England where Kaufer had stayed with two fellow wildlife biologists. It appeared that he had a strong motive to kill one of them, a man named Felix Larsson. Larsson had been suspected to have taken credit for Kaufer's research, which had been a sort of breakthrough in scientific discovery. It wasn't major enough to keep the public's eye on Larsson or elevate his fame to a great extent. It was, however, significant enough for him to reap substantial benefits in his career.

Larsson was found dead in a hotel hallway, with numerous stab wounds in his body made from an unknown weapon that was never found. Before his death, the entirety of the hotel's camera systems had been shutdown and footage was deleted. No further evidence had been found despite the suspicion.

The other biologist had been suspected but there was no evidence linked to him as well. His name was Valerian Pavlovsky, Milena Pavlovsky's father. Valerian Pavlovsky was found dead two weeks later, dead in a lake in the winter. It had nothing to do with Kaufer, however, as he had since returned to Germany while Pavlovsky died in Western Russia.

Kaufer was infamous after that, because of the suspicion attached to him regarding the murder. He lost his previous position and laid low for a while. In that time and between the time where Mikhailov hired him, there was a security breach in the German government's civilian data, where data had went missing overnight, one of them were Kaufer's which had to do with the murder case.

He was suspected and once again, nothing could be traced to him.

With his name cleared and the rumors around him died down, Kaufer was able to find work freely to pay his dues, until he went into the research team set up by Mikhailov.

And it was clear that Kaufer was the one who had attacked L's building as he had the expertise in programming and hacking. He doesn't appear to have a motive so it had to be Krupin's, who may have lost a family member to werewolves and held a grudge against them, as Mikhailov had said. Kaufer and Krupin's father had known each other through their careers, it was highly probable that they have met through him, which once again, ties in with Mikhailov's claim that they have known each other before they joined him.

Krupin also have the potential to regain the power and status she used to have, which puts her as the authority above Mikhailov and Kaufer if she wanted to.

However, there's one thing that is stopping L from immediately convicting.

Something doesn't feel right.

One was the instance where shock and fear made Kaufer blurt that he had seen Mikhailov outside the elevator during the blackout, who had threatened him into silence before disappearing. If Krupin truly hates werewolves, her demeanor around Light doesn't seem right, if L's gut had anything to say about it. Also, the emergency elevator was supposed to have worked while there is an electrical failure.

There's something more to this and L hadn't even begun to grasp at it yet.

"L."

The detective turned and found Watari standing behind him, looking solemn.

"What is it, Watari?"

"I have been thinking about this," the elderly man sighed, "I think I might be too old to continue in this line of work."

L peered at him, "What are you talking about?"

"I have been underperforming lately," Watari stated, "If you haven't noticed or refuse to. If I had been younger and stronger and  _sharper_ , all of these incidences could have been prevented or at the very least, be resolved by now."

"Your safety could be at risk if this continues," the older man said seriously.

"You have taken care of me for a long time, Watari," L said, "I can't imagine myself safer anywhere else but under your protection."

"I'm afraid I am no longer capable of that," Watari said sadly, "I'm sorry, L."

The detective stared at the screen for a long while, "What do you suggest I should do?"

"You need to employ someone else who is at least capable of protecting you and managing important tasks," Watari said, "I will remain for now, until you manage to find someone suitable. I ask that you prioritize this because I can't go on forever. I'm old, you know."

"I can see that," L muttered. "Perhaps I should find someone who could bake as well as you."

"L…"

"They should also make good tea."

"Please be practical."

He chuckled, "Thank you, Watari, for everything so far. I promise I will do as you say."

Watari smiled.

L glanced at another screen that showed the werewolf lying in a cage, "I should go check on him."

The detective paused at the door, "You know, if, by any chance we manage to find a cure for Light, I might consider hiring him."

Watari's eyes widened, "What?"

"Also, if we find that he is indeed Kira in the end, I'll have to see whether he still wants to kill me," L declared, "If he does not, I will offer him this position as a means of redemption."

"I would advise against that."

"Watari," L looked at him straight in the eye, "I think, I might have fallen for him."

The elderly man stared at him.

"I'm sorry," L muttered, "You have warned me many times and yet I let myself get emotionally involved. I assure you, this case will be the last and only time."

The detective left the room and made his way towards the room where they kept Light in.

Watari sighed to himself and set about watching the screens.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So, that was werewolf Light, this shit is cliché but I hadn't seen much of it in the Death Note fandom, as far as I know (or I might just be extremely ignorant).
> 
> I've been meaning to try this out for a while and maybe try to do a vampire L in the future if I feel up to it. (But just werewolf Light x human L/vampire L x human Light, no werewolf and vampire together, that shit is even more cliché than cliché)
> 
> For the moment, I'm just gunna have fun with this muhahaha.


End file.
